Athens: Its History and Coinage before the Persian Invasion

Seltman presents a die-based reconstruction of Athenian coinage before 480 BC, linking changes in fabric, types, weight, and production to the political history of archaic Athens. The twenty-four plates and die groupings make the book useful for identifying early Attic issues, testing whether specimens share dies, and understanding the historical model behind later discussions of Wappenmünzen and early owls. It also preserves a large body of collection and sale evidence from before many coins were dispersed.

Because the work predates much of the modern archaeological, die-study, and provenance evidence, verify chronology, mint and ruler assignments, legend readings, authenticity, and present specimen locations against current corpora and databases.