![ATHENS, ATTICA. Tetradrachm, 500/490-485/0 BC [AGC2-120] - Image 2](https://colonialcoins.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/AGC2-120-1.jpg)
![ATHENS, ATTICA. Tetradrachm, 500/490-485/0 BC [AGC2-120] - Image 3](https://colonialcoins.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/AGC2-120.jpg)
Description
Athens, Attica, Silver Tetradrachm (16.76g, 21mm, Attic standard), circa 500/490-485/0 BC. Obverse: Head of Athena facing to the right, wearing crested Attic Helmet ornamented with visor and spiral palmette on bowl and large round earring with central boss. Reverse: Athenian Owl stands right, head turned facing forward, olive sprig to upper left, “[AΘE]” (‘AΘENAION’) downward to right; all within incuse square. Plate Figure 1 (this coin): Osmund Bopearachchi, Research Paper “Premières frappes locales de l’Inde du Nord-Ouest: nouvelles données”, Volume ‘Trésors d’Orient’ (Treasures of the Orient), within ‘Mélanges offerts à Rika Gyselen’ (Miscellany offered to Rika Gyselen) [Paris, 2009]; Seltman Group Gii (unlisted dies); Asyut group IVc; HGC 4, 1590. Of the utmost rarity, the earliest known example of its type to be found so far east, good Very Fine, rare and highly important.
Provenance:
- From the Shaikhan Dehri Hoard, 2007
- CNG Triton XV, 2012, Lot: 1163 (USD 9,000 Hammer)
In 2007, at the site of ancient Pushkalavati (Shaikhan Dehri) in Pakistan, a small coin hoard was discovered that contained a number of local punch-marked ‘bent bars’, some blank flans, four cake-type cast silver ingots used as bullion, and a single Athenian Tetradrachm – our presented coin here. This piece, struck circa 500/490-485/0 BC, is considered the earliest known example Athenian coin to be found so far east, proving how far ancient Greek currency travelled through international trade networks. For this reason, The Shaikhan Dehri Hoard is a highly important piece of the ‘historical puzzle’, and the evidence it provided, as well as alongside the famous Kabul hoard (Chaman-i Hazouri), prove that a systematic, locally manufactured production of coinage existed in North India prior to the arrival of Alexander the Great, and also illustrates the high degree of financial autonomy or specialized local administration operating in the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent under Achaemenid influence. For more information about the Shaikhan Dehri Hoard’s Athenian Tetradrachm, you may look into Osmund Bopearachchi, Research Paper “Premières frappes locales de l’Inde du Nord-Ouest: nouvelles données” [Paris, 2009] – Bopearachchi studied many of the coins of this hoard 2 years after it’s discovery, and this piece is Plate Figure 1. It is also featured on the Wikipedia page for the Shaikhan Dehri Hoard.
