Rights Holder: Royal Institution of Cornwall
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COIN
Unique ID: CORN-1A2BB4
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
Contemporary copper alloy copy of a silver Greek Owl Type A tetradrachm, with head of Athena on obverse and owl on reverse, minted in Athens c.454-431 BC.
Coins like these are known and assumed to be contemporary forgeries, originally with silver plating, which has now worn off. These copies are usually described as 'money of necessity' and are associated with the fall of Athens to Sparta at the end of the Peloponnesian War, c.406 BC. There are references in Aristophanes to the use of bronze and scholars have speculated that these coins were produced officially with a bronze core and silver overlay to make them more acceptable to the general Athenian population. But that is exactly how ancient forgeries were produced, and this is well known for most silver producing mints. So there does need to be more work done on these coins, perhaps with metal analysis to determine the composition to see whether they are of the same period of production (Amelia Dowler pers comm).
See here for some examples in the British Museum's collections:
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: GREEK AND ROMAN PROVINCIAL
Period from: GREEK AND ROMAN PROVINCIAL
Period to: GREEK AND ROMAN PROVINCIAL
Date from: Circa 406 BC
Date to: Circa 300 BC
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Thickness: 6 mm
Weight: 13.06 g
Diameter: 25 mm
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Monday 1st June 2015 - Tuesday 30th June 2015
Personal details
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Materials and construction
Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Struck or hammered
Completeness: Incomplete
Coin data (numismatics)
Denomination: Tetradrachm view all attributed records
Mint or issue place: Athens
Obverse description: Helmeted head of Athena facing right in archaic style, her helmet adorned in front with three olive-leaves erect, and at the back with a floral scroll; her hair in bands across her temples, and indicated by dots under the neck-piece of the helmet
Obverse inscription: none
Reverse description: Incuse square, within which, Owl standing right, head facing, wings closed; behind, olive-spray and small crescent moon
Reverse inscription: AΘE
Die axis measurement: 8 o'clock
Degree of wear: Worn: fine
Coin references
No coin references available.
Spatial metadata
Region: South West (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Cornwall (Unitary Authority)
District: Cornwall (Unitary Authority)
Parish or ward: Madron (Civil Parish)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: SW4531
Four figure Latitude: 50.12416544
Four figure longitude: -5.56896493
1:25K map: SW4531
1:10K map: SW41NE
Grid reference source: Generated from computer mapping software
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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