Grèce - Attique - Athènes Tétradrachme (c. 465 av. J. C.) D’une insigne rareté. Emission de la série dite « décadrachme ». Exemplaire de la liste Antiqua Inc. II (Woodland Hills - California) 1995, N°6 et de la collection Hunter vente Goldberg 72 du 5 février 2013, N°4065 16.75g - Boston 1063 - Starr 69 Superbe à FDC - CHOICE AU * “The owls of Laurium, which every judge desires above all things, shall never be wanting to you; you shall see them homing with you, building their nests in your money-bags and laying coins” (Aristophanes Birds 1105-1109). This is a remarkable numismatic reference, for it confirms that Athenian coins were struck with the metal from the silver mines of Lavrion, a town in south-eastern Attica, exploited since the sixth century BC. Those ‘owls’, the Athenian tetradrachms, were then struck from the sixth to the first century BC, with an unchanged design but evolving style. On this specific issue, in the superb ‘transitional’ style of the late 470s – early 450s BC, one notices a small waning crescent above the owl, which might be a reference to the victorious battle of Salamis in 490 BC (fought in the last quarter of the moon).