At long last, I joined the Owl Club

Over a year ago I decided that I wanted to actually own an Athens tetradrachm, rather than just drool at pictures of them. It took more lost bids than I can count, but I finally snagged one that I am happy with, at something almost resembling a fair price.

When it comes to Greek coins, I'm funny - I actually prefer the coins to have a little wear and character to remind me that these were, first and foremost, money. Things that were carried around, dropped, tested, and used.

Attica, Athens
AR Tetradrachm 25mm, 16.96g
Classic period, 454-404 BC
Obv: Helmeted head of Athena right, eye facing viewer
Rev: Owl standing right, facing viewer; AΘE right, Olive sprig above left



Let's see those owls!

 

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I like this one a lot - and I totally agree with your collecting philosophy.

Nice catch. I am owl-less, sorry to say.

 

Great looking owl!
I too am owl-less. But I hope to some day own one.

 

Nice condition on that coin, Finn.

Alas, currently, I am owl-less

 

That is a beauty, congrats!

 

Lovely example! For now, though, I have to content myself with little bronze non-Athenian ones:


Mysia, Pergamon, 200-133 BC.
Bronze Æ 15.7 mm, 3.55 g, 12 h.
Obv: Head of Athena right, wearing crested helmet ornamented with star.
Rev: AΘΗ-ΝΑΣ ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΟΥ, owl standing facing on palm, with wings spread,TK monogram left and ΠΛ right.
Refs: SNG Copenhagen 388 (same); c.f. SNG von Aulock 1375-6, BMC 197-199, SNG France 1920-2, SNG BN 1913-6 (various monograms).



Anonymous--Domitian to Antoninus Pius
Roman Æ quadrans, 14.9 mm, 2.51 g, 5 h
Rome, A.D. 81-161
Obv: Helmeted and draped bust of Minerva right
Rev: S-C, Owl standing left, head facing
Ref: RIC 8.

 

Congrats... that's a very nice example. I especially like the look of the reverse.

After resisting for quite awhile, I finally gave in to the hoot of the Owl late last year and picked up one for myself. It's embarrassingly clean and minty.


ATTICA, Athens
AR Tetradrachm. 17.16g, 25mm. ATTICA, Athens, circa 430s-420s BC. Kroll 8; SNG Cop 31; HGC 4, 1597. O: Head of Athena right, with frontal eye, wearing earring, necklace, and crested Attic helmet decorated with three olive leaves over visor and a spiral palmette on the bowl. R: Owl standing right, head facing; olive sprig and crescent to left, AΘE to right; all within incuse square.

 

Welcome to the Owl Club, @Finn235. Nice owl with near full crest! I agree that little imperfection and wear are nice for ancient coins. Gives them characters and a feel of history.

I originally had raw Owls with test cuts a few years back. Thought that could satisfy my love of Owl. But that doesn't work.

Eventually there is a desire to get one with no cut. I end up getting a few this year, including a Starr V which is arriving later this week...

Classical:


Early Transitional:


Another Early Transitional, raw with test cut.

 

Thanks all! And those are some lovely Owls, too!

For my own understanding, is there any online resource to help me understand the different types, beyond just Archaic/Classical/Intermediate/New styles? I know this is an area that attracts some pretty serious academic research, but I just can't seem to find much detail.

 

Congrats, Finn!

There's not much wear at all on this coin. Nice deep strike, good centering, nice tone.

I finally got one too after keeping an eye out for the last several months. I'll post it here when it arrives, hopefully next week.

Same here. Perhaps I just haven't searched well but I've not found much. Reid Goldsborough's article is nice but it doesn't go into much detail on the earlier owl tets.

 

Great example. Congrats.

 

Very nice, they are something to behold when it's a long goal that is finally achieved.


Attica, Athens (353 - 294 B.C)
AR Tetradrachm
O: Helmeted head of Athena right
R: AΘE Owl standing right, head facing, olive sprig and crescent to left; all within incuse square.
16.59g
21 mm
Kroll -; HGC 4, 1599

Ex. Numismatik-Naumann, Auction 52, Lot 126


MYSIA.,Pergamon (200 - 133 B.C.)
Æ16
O: Helmeted head of Athena right.
R: AΘΗ-ΝΑΣ ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΟΥ, owl standing facing on palm, with wings spread, A monogram left and AP right.
3.6g
16mm
SNG von Aulock 1375-6 var; SNG Copenhagen 388 var

 

Very nice owl @Finn235 !

 

My cheapie. Hoping to upgrade sometime from the new hoard. (If anyone knows how to get some of this hoard in bulk, please pm me!)

 

How can you tell they are authentic? I see a lot of these on Ebay. Most look too 'new' to be that old and @ over $600 for some I don't think I'd drop that much unless there was some certification.

 

…and here is one of my owls, a plated one. It was sold as being from the emergency issue of 404 BC and for years I thought it was. But it doesn’t have the style of those found in the Piraeus hoard, and under a glass the details are just ‘wrong.’ For instance the dots of the owl’s body don’t quite follow the outline, there’s no central dot above the owl’s eyes, the theta is thin and sloppy, and so on. But I still like it, and think that it was very thoughtful that the test cut was made between the owl’s legs! So I now just attribute it to possibly being made in the last half of the fifth century BC.

 

… this owl (almost) got me in a bunch of trouble. I was looking for one that was well centred from the classic period. Only *after* I bought it did I realize that the weight (16.22g) was among the lowest of the thousands recorded on acsearch. I know, I should have figured that out before I bid! Before it arrived I consoled myself that it came from a reputable dealer. Once I received the coin I showed it to two ancients dealers at a local show who didn’t see anything wrong with it, nor could I. So I sent it off to David Sear who thinks it genuine. (Whew, and a lesson.)

 

… this archaic owl was only affordable to me because of the flan flaws back and front. I really like the late archaic style of this piece. I’ve attributed it as Seltman A144, probably dating 500 – 485 BC. Since I purchased this coin, a couple more with the same obverse die have come on to the market. It’s not rare, but one of the highlights of my collection.