The archaic style owl arrived today, encased in a NGC slab, from which it was promptly removed. Given the irregular shape of the flan both in terms of roundness and in variations of thickness, the coin was at an angle that was quite distracting when viewing, so out it went. The archaic tetradrachms do vary widely in terms of the flans, dies, and strikes. This coin, in those respects, is quite typical: a well-centered strike, a "dumpy" irregular flan with flaws (especially on the reverse), worn dies, rough surfaces (more on the obverse than reverse), and an overall crude appearance. Compared to many of the later emissions of the Athens mint, this coin doesn't hold a candle in terms refinement and beauty. All things said, this coin has a very nice owl, peering quizzically at us. While this coin is not in the mega-bucks category of archaic owls, it is, in its own way, quite appealing. Athens, circa 510/500-480 BC AR Tetradrachm Obverse: Athena facing right, wearing an archaic helmet and an earring. Reverse: Owl leaning slightly right, AΘE to the right, olive sprig to the left. Seltman Group C 17.42 grams Given the crude nature of this coin, I think it belongs to the period after Marathon, 490 BC, and before the second Persian invasion of 480 BC. Post you owls and anything else you wish. This owl is kinda lonely. Thanks
I love it! I still haven't landed an archaic owl, but I would definitely like to get one. Something I did manage to get recently, on the cheap, is this Starr Group II owl: These were the first coins issued after the victories at Salamis and Plataea, reflected in the appearance of the olive leaf decoration on Athena's helmet and the crescent moon beside the owl. (The countermark and chisel mark – not a test cut, it doesn't go all the way to the edge – are characteristic of owls that circulated in the near east.) I wish the owl had wonderful eyes, like yours! The seller listed it as an ordinary mass produced owl so I got it for 200 EUR.
LOL, that Owl is GREAT, @robinjojo ! VERY engaging! I have several owls, but this one of mine has the only really intriguing look. And, I think Athena is just ga-ga for the owl! Athens Attica 454-404 BCE ARr hemidrachm 16mm 2.08g Athena frontal eye - facing Owl wings closed olive branches COP 70 SG 2528
Nice! That's a very elusive coin, a true Group 2 example. I have seen so many other tetradrachms assigned to the wrong Starr group, at auction and on retail sites, probably because many are hard to nail down to a particular group.
Nice example! The reverse design was later used at Gaza for an extremely rare imitative tetradrachm that fetches big bucks at auction.
Here's one that sold at Triton XXII, Lot: 386, with a $75,000 estimate, for a fair amount of pocket change, $325,000 to be precise (not including buyer's fee, of course). Circa 425-400 BC 17.10 grams I was mistaken regarding the Gaza attribution. Actually the tetradrachm above and the drachm below are attributed to Philistia, a larger geographic area comprising Palestine. Here's the drachm from the same auction, lot 387, which hammered for $32,500 on a $20,000 estimate. Circa 425-400 BC 3.96 grams Edit: I found one more super rare Philistia tetradrachm, this time offered through Heritage. It seems not to have sold at auction: https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/g...-ngc-choice-xfand-9733-4-5-4-5/a/3075-32034.s
Nice archaic owl, @robinjojo My archaic example has a super big cut on it, but nice that some detail remains. You have seen my second owl. Off-center piece, but at least no test cut. Maybe I'll be eventually get a more decent piece when the prices are better.
Test cut aside, your two archaic tetradrachms are really nice - much better metal quality than is often encountered and the detail for both coins is outstanding. My crude owl is, I think, far more common for this type. As for prices, yes, they are on the ascent, with high hammer prices as well as high retail prices. This is a very problematic series, and as it is with much of the Athenian coinage of the 6th - 4th centuries BC, it is still a work in progress, especially in terms of dating.
Nice coin robinjojo, I really like the archaic Athens tetradrachms. Yours is very well centred and has a similar hair style to mine. I've shown this one on here before. It was pricey of course, but reasonable when compared to it's previous sale. I wanted one with a fairly complete helmet crest and reasonable style. Happy I took the plunge.
That is an exceptional archaic owl in every respect. I think that if I only had one archaic tetradrachm, that coin would be the hands down choice. This is another one that I have shown before as well. It's not long on beauty by any means, but it is quirky, with its backwards reverse and buggy-eye owl seeming to be dancing a gigue. 17.8 grams
Thanks, I appreciate that you like my coin. It's certainly one I'm proud to own. Not that I would swap, but I do like this tetradrachm of yours with the unusual reverse too. If I remember correctly, you also showed another archaic owl a few weeks ago that you purchased from HJB in the 80's. (Hope it was you). That was a beauty too. You have a nice collection of archaic owls.
Thank you. It has taken about 30 years to acquire these archaic tetradrachms, though I must say the pace rapidly picked up starting around 2018. The limitation for me is the expense plus the fact that many are very crude and unappealing. An interesting aspect of the archaic Athenian owls is that there are indications that they were imitated, probably in the Levante or Egypt. Here's one example, that sold through MA Shops. I was interested in purchasing it, but another buyer beat me to it. 17.12 grams Needless to say this is a controversial coin. I would imagine that it would be called a copy, fake, or not genuine, due to its deviations from classical archaic designs, specifically the crest, eye and the somewhat flat styling of the owl.