This coin arrived yesterday. It is an owl, intermediate, from the 4th century BC. This example does show the characteristics of a folded flan, as can be seen from the photo of its edge. The folding is not as pronounced as it is with other coins of this period, and it seems that the edge on this coin has been smoothed or lightly hammered, probably at the mint. What is interesting about this coin is evidence of folding on the reverse and obverse, as well as traces of the original coin, another owl. On the reverse there is still some of the olive and olive leaves of the original owl, along with possibly a flatten "ghost" of the original owl's eyes to the left. Additionally some of the original coin's legend, possibly the "E", is visible on the reverse edge, upper left. The coin was struck with a worn obverse die, but the centering is decent for this type. Attica, c. 393-353 BC Tetradrachm Obverse: Athena, facing right Reverse: Owl standing, ΑΘ(Ε) to the right, olive leaves to the left 17.3 grams Folded flan 20 mm, 10 h.
Very interesting. I actually have a couple of coins that look like this. I always chalked it up to defective flans, but are you saying the Athens mint was doing this intentionally? I haven't heard about it.
We have had a few threads here on CT discussing folded flans of the Athens Tet: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/folded-flan-athens-owl-tetradrachm.316441/#post-3081317
Yes, apparently this was a common practice during this period and later. Here's more information from Forvm Ancient Coins. The folded flan appear to apply to Bingen Pi II and later: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Pi-Style Now that I am looking at the Forvm page, I'm beginning to think that this owl might be an imitative coin, due to differences with the Athenian designs and this coin's, especially regarding the reverse. I need to look into this difference in more detail. My owl seems to be more in a walking mode, something that I have seen with imitations from Arabia.
The folded flan owls of the mid fourth century are usually associated with what are usually called the "Pi" style coins. On these the palmet that decorates the bowl of Athena's helmet is roughly in the shape of the Greek letter "pi" This is an example in my collection Athens Ar tetradrachm 353-c 340 B.C. 17.17 grms 18 mm Photo by W. Hansen
So, if my coin is an imitative owl (still working on that), then it would appear that other mints also recycled coins by folding the flan and re-striking.
You're coin looks like it is a Bingen Pi IV owl. https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=pi-style
