Extremely rare Greek coin found in anti-smuggling operation

HATAY

An extremely rare coin dating back to ancient Greece has been found as a result of an operation conducted against historical artifact smugglers in 30 provinces.

In an operation conducted in a house in the southern province of Hatay, police found a silver coin with the Greek goddess Athena on the front and an owl figure on the back, which is estimated to have been minted between 467 and 465 BC.

Weighing 42.5 grams and reportedly worth $1 million, the coin is known as “Athens Dekadrachm” and there are only 40 of these rare coins in the whole world.

The coin is also listed on Harlan Berk’s “Top 100 ancient coins list.”

Following the demonstration of the coins at the police headquarters, the officers handed over the coins to the museum.

Thirty-six of the 78 suspects were released following questioning while the others are still being interrogated.

As part of the operation carried out on Aug. 10, security forces aided by history experts reviewed catalogs of auction houses all over the world to track down the stolen and smuggled artifacts.

Some 4,122 historical artifacts have been recovered from Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Turkey in four different operations conducted against the international smuggling organization.