Reproduction Athens Gold Stater

Obverse: Head of Athena right, with profile eye, wearing crested Attic helmet decorated with a “pi-style” palmette, disk earring, and pearl necklace.

Reverse: Owl standing right, head facing; olive sprig and crescent to left, AOE and Eleusis-ring to right.

History: This gold stater of Athens, depicting Athena, was issued by the tyrant Lachares in 296 BC to pay his troops during the siege of Athens by Demetrius "the besieger", king of Macedon. The colossal gold and ivory statue of the goddess Athena, in the Parthenon on the Acropolis, was stripped of its gold, some of which was then struck into coins.

The cities of ancient Greece generally used silver for their coins. Gold, with its high value, was unsuitable for small transactions and gold coins were usually only issued in an emergency, as in this case.

Only a very few examples of the original coin are known, making this coin excessively rare.

Minted: 296 BC.

Diameter: 1.5cm