I finally bought the famous ancient coin

I finally bought the famous ancient coin.

Perhaps it is even the most famous ancient coin?

I don’t really know but it is the most famous as far as my little world is concerned.

 

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I’ve really got two questions right now

I’ve really got two questions right now.

I’ve wanted one of these for a long time & have been sitting back waiting for one to be offered by someone trustworthy. I clicked on Daniel Sedwick’s recent auction & won this one. Considering a bazillion eyes (including Sedwick’s eyes) have viewed this coin I calculated that it would probably be safe to bid on it. I personally like the picture but I’ve never seen it in hand. I will probably receive it in about 10-days.

Q1. From the photo, do you guys see anything to suggest that it is not real?

I’ve been to Athens. I’ve heard some of the mythology about Athena & the owl. I guess I should get a book describing ancient coins now & really learn something.

Q2. What one ancient coin reference book should I initially purchase? Please suggest a book that is really available for purchase someplace.

Wish me luck. I may get bit by the ancient coin collecting bug.

 

Very nice. I love the Owl of Athens very much. I would recomend Zander Klawans book "Ancient Greek & Roman Coins" to start out with. Whittman Publishing. ISBN 0-307-09362-X

 

I've been wanting one for ages too. it's still on my wish list. One day, who knows.....sight....

Q

 

I think most ancient collectors want one. I know I do also. Its a beautiful design. Just shows something thousands of years old has better art then most of todays modern crap.

Congrats on the pickup and hopefully you can post your OWN pics once you get it.

 

Whoo Whooooo :devil:

 

Ive seen bronze owls and even those can be pricey :/

 

If any coin is "the most famous" ancient coin, it would be this one. I waited a long time to find one that was priced low and still met my minimum condition requirements. I finally settled on...



It has a few minor problems, and the often ubiquitous test cut in the owl's head, but it was a good find for the right price.

For further (free online!) reading, you can read all about the series at http://rg.ancients.info/owls/

There's lots of research you can do online before you start shelling out for the often-expensive books on ancient coins (many of them have low print runs and prices quickly skyrocket). Figure out what areas interest you the most, then dig in to the printed literature.

If you want some good starter books, try the inexpensive six-volume series by Wayne G. Sayles, available through Amazon and other outlets.

 

Those are gorgeous! I'd love to get one to go with my baby bronze:

 

One book on anceint coins is tough. The one by Klawans I have but didn't really enjoy. Do you really just want one book on ancients, or could it be one book on ancient Greek? What would the purpose of the book be, just background about when and how the coins were made, or somewhat a listing of coins?

For background, I like Sayles series of books, one for Greek, one for Roman, etc. The first one, Vol I, is a good general ancient coin book. If you wanted somewhat a listing, Sears is the best. He has an older two volume on Greek, a 1988 one volume on Roman, and one volume on Greek Imperial.

 

Beautiful coin, price on it?

 

Funny you should ask. I got the owl for $200 below my max bid. I'll send you a PM with the hammer price now.

I bid on 7 coins before the auction went live. I lost four of the seven to others that were willing to pay substantially more than my max bids. I promised myself that I would just place the max bids & then check how I did after the auction. However, I peeked yesterday & today. I did not raise my max bids but I did peek. There were two Central American coins that I placed legitimate high bids on & they went for about twice what I bid & I bid twice what the catalog says they are worth. One was a Costa Rica coin which is basically a 1 real counterstamp on a chunk of a cob. It looked nice & probably graded EF. The other was a Guatemala 1 real graded NGC MS62. Both of these coins have the design with the sun-burst radiating over the mountains on one side & the tree on the other. I lost them both. That is OK because I now have money left over for the coin show this weekend (sour grapes).

 

Thank you Ripley,
I just arranged to get the Klawan book from a dealer this Saturday. I will print medoraman's post & carry it with me in case I run across the books he recomends.

 

Great 89, I have 2 books by that author. Seems everyone loves your Owl.

 

Let me know if you ever want other advice on ancient books. I think sometimes I collect the books more than the coins, so I am pretty well versed on the field.

 

i dont really know anything about ancients ... but that is really cool looking

ballpark ... what do these cost?

 

A really nice one with no test cut typically runs in the $1000 - $1500 range, or sometimes more.

However, the prices for truly superior examples can get goofy. Witness the following, currently available for those with $20k to spare:

http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/romanumismatics/store/viewItem.asp?idProduct=9760

Frankly, if I had $20k to blow on coins, I would rather buy 200 or so really nice ancients of a different ilk.

 

You'l think I'm being nasty in attitude with this answer but owls sell for $200 to 20,000 for the most part. Sometimes you see ones of common varieties that look like they were run over by a truck for less and perfect examples of some of the most high demand early ones can start bidding wars. There are at least twice as many non-collectors that would not mind having one as any other ancient and you pay a lot for little increases in style strike and centering even on the common ones which exist by the bagful. There are recent opinions classifying many owls as possibly ancient issues of mints other than Athens (Egypt in particular) and coins of style that is definitely pegged to Athens in the Golden Age has extra appeal to many people. Test cuts, a nose near the edge of the flan or missing the helmet crest all reduce demand and price. These days it seems a well engraved, uncut, perfectly centered, nicely surfaced, Athenian style, unworn but common coin is about $1000. Add 'exceptional' to any of those characteristics and double the price.

Who disagrees?
http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?search=similar%3A4573&view_mode=1#0

 

Certainly not me. That's the pitfall of "famous" coins. Tiny details make for huge differences in price. I wanted an Athens Owl for my collection because I felt no broadly themed ancient collection would be complete without one. Not to mention, they're beautiful coins and I love them. I would gladly own dozens, but it's far too difficult to find them at reasonable prices in reasonable condition. So far, I own one classical era, one transitional period, and an obol. All were had for what I would consider a bargain price. Would I like to have more and better? Absolutely. But at these prices, I would rather focus on the relatively cheaper sets that can be built.

 

...and for the record, there are at least 1000 tetradrachms in existence for every obol. EF obols are rarely seen while I can suggest where you can get a roll of tets if you have the money. Wave $100,000 in the air and see how many dealers can produce a complete EF denomination set drachm and below. Zero?