A late 2022 arrival - an eastern imitation owl from the Edward H. Merrin Collection

Happy 2023!

To maintain my owl addiction, I picked up this slabbed (came this way) owl on eBay on December 26th. In addition to being in nice condition - there is some minor graffito on the cheek, which could be a Sabean "D" (just a guess) - this coin has a pedigree to the collection of Edward H. Merrin, who was the founder of one of New York City's leading galleries for antiquities, from classical times to pre-Colombian.

17.05 grams



I am quite certain that this owl is an eastern imitation, not Egyptian, but likely from that far flung catchall region called the Levant. The style is very reminiscent of other coins that I have seen attributed to Gaza.

The graffiti on the obverse is comprised of two close diagonal lines running parallel, with another rather long line bisecting in roughly the middle. Whether it is a Sabean character or an abbreviated game of tic-tac-toe is anyone's guess.

 

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That is a lovely coin. I can almost see a kind of individualized expression in that portrait of Athena, as opposed to the typically stiff and stylized Athenian representations.

I’m thinking very seriously about making a run at an Athenian owl by the end of the year. I don’t think they’re ever going to be more affordable, relative to the general market, than they are right now.

So I guess I need to start doing my research. What do you, or any others, look for in an owl tetradrachm? What are the key features I should keep in mind? To the untrained eye, they mostly all look the same.

 

I like the skin.

 

Thank you.

As with other ancient coins, centering and strike are important. The Athenians used fairly narrow flans, so some die detail much more often than not is off the flan. This is particularly true for the obverse, where the crest, that extension of the helmet running along the periphery, is much more often than not only partially present or not present at all.

Having said that, I don't put a lot of weight on the level of crest detail present on a given coin. I look at that aspect as a bonus if it is. Instead I look at the style of the engraving. I like expressive portraits of Athena. Quite often, and this is becomes more prevalent with the mass output of standardized classical owls after 440 BC, the portraits become flat, bland and static. The earlier owls have nicer portraits, generally speaking, but even there some are better than others.

Here are some examples of what I look for in an Athenian classical owl.

This is probably my highest grade owl, purchased from Roma Numismatics in 2019. This coin is a standardized classical owl, issued after 440 BC. There was a flood of these coins coming out of the mint to finance Athens' capital projects and later her involvement in the Peloponnesian War.

While the relief is flatter when compared to earlier classical owls, the portrait is rendered in a sensitive way. The centering is very good, and there's some crest visible.



This is an earlier owl, minted between circa 465-460 BC. The relief is higher and the engraving quality is very good. Note the more refined, realistic rendering of the owl on the reverse.



Here's another standardized owl, probably an earlier one. Absolutely no crest here, but the oblong flan was optimally used when the coin was struck. The centering is excellent and the portrait, while somewhat neutral, is still very nice.


Finally, here's an owl that has obvious wear, definitely in the VF range. However, this coin is a transitional owl. These coins were produced by the mint during a time of experimentation with the design, before a standardized one was agreed to. For me, the obverse is almost the quintessential depiction of the evolving portrait, from archaic to classical, with one the best archaic "smiles" I've seen on a classical owl.



So, bottom line, buy an owl, or any other ancient coin that appeals to you! Each collector has his or her preferences.

Personally, I would not pay a premium for a coin in a slab. If the slabbed coin's price is within what I think is reasonable, as in the case of the OP coin, which cost me $550, I might make an exception. Otherwise I stick to "raw" coins.

Hope this helps & good luck!

 

Differences between owl tetradrachms are generally very subtle. A very broad and easy rule of thumb is to look at the tail feathers of the owl, if there are three prongs it's an early issue, if it's a single prong it's a later, mass issue.

Other things discounted (strike, centering, test cuts etc.) early issues (with three tail prongs) will cost more than mass issues.

If you're not concerned about early issues, a well struck and sharp (meaning both obverse and reverse) mass issue should not be particularly expensive, particularly if you don't mind raw coins. There's been a whole flood of them recently.

Suggest to look for tetradrachms with sharp, fresh details on both sides and no test cuts. Reason being, they look better, and will likely be relatively easier to sell if/when the day comes.

For the head of Athena, try and look for an example with the nose intact. Those with a cut-off nose look strange to me, and are generally really poorly centred. Good luck.

 

Wonderful coin , and very reasonable price. I love it. Even if, as far as I am concerned, I only buy cage-free eggs.

(Not my coin and not even my eggs of course)

Now, bona fide Attic owl, or imitation?

Some numismatists may think an owl is an imitation just because of the general style of the dies, or small details. Weight and chemical composition do not count, for imitations were often made of good Laurion silver with the right Attic weight (17.20 g in theory). Judging only from the style is, IMO, very subjective. The wet finger method (in French we say "au pifomètre" or "à vue de nez", which means nose-o-meter, as if we just had to smell the thing to give an expert opinion).

Theodor Buttrey distinguished 2 styles of Egyptian imitations, the M and B styles, but he had objective reasons for doing so. He noticed in a huge Egyptian hoard the predominance of owls showing design details such as the shape of the palmette on Athena's helmet, or the shape of her eye, and suggested that such coins, relatively common in Egyptian hoards but much less common in hoards found elsewhere, may have been minted in Egypt. This hypothesis was challenged by Christophe Flament because their metallic composition is the same as most other owls, but was confirmed by the discovery in an Egyptian collection of a cubic die showing all the characteristics of the Buttrey M style.

For the rest, it is scientifically impossible to decide if an owl is an Athens minted one or a Levantine imitation, except of course if there is a clearly unathenian element in the type, such as a semitic letter, an extra symbol or some bizarre detail making no sense. Without such unquestionable details, is it possible to decide? Peter Van Alfen, when publishing a hoard, listed all bona fide Attic owls with a "probably" or a question mark.

In the OP, why should the the poor caged owl be suspected to be an imitation? Because of the palmette? Yes, there is a leaf missing... Couldn't it just be a minor mistake of the celator, one guy among dozens hard working cutting dies in industrial quantities for the Athens mint? For me, unless this tetradrachm is from a Middle Eastern hoard containing other tets with die-links to this one, there is no undisputable reason not to attribute it to Athens.

This drachm, for example, is a typical pi-style drachm.

Good silver (I suppose so), Attic weight (4.23 g), auctioned in 2013 as "Attica, Athens AR Drachm". There would be no reason to decide it is an imitation but it is. This coin is obverse and reverse die linked with dozens of other drachms found in a Gaza Strip hoard containing more than 850 drachms, all of them from only 5 different obverse dies, including this coin's. Some of these drachms were struck on Edomite dome-shaped coins used as flans. Dramatic evidence that these 850 drachms were minted not far from the hoard's location, in Raphia, Gaza or Edom.

 

Wow! Thanks for these generous comments! I’m definitely bookmarking this page for when my owl fund reaches critical mass.

 

For those not familiar with the main types of Athenian owls, here a basic introduction:

Archaic (circa 515 - 480 BC)



Classical (After 480 to 404 BC)



Intermediate "Pi-Style" (393-circa 262 BC*)
* Owl production apparently continued on a very irregular basis after 262 BC.



New Style (166/164 - 63/62 BC)

 

I agree. The OP coin could be Athenian in origin. But, based on my experience viewing lots of Athenian classical owls, the OP coin is stylistically an outlier. Still, it could be a case of "stranger things have been known to happen", and the coin is the product of some unusually engraved dies at Athens.

I also agree that the OP coin does not fit into the Buttery system of classification. The owl is totally different from the M and B styles. Additionally, the provenance, beyond being part of the Merrin collection, does not provide any information about the coin's origins, not surprisingly. Information about these coins, as you point out, is scant, and unless a coin comes from a known group of owls from the Middle East or elsewhere, determining provenance is next to impossible. So, the discussions continue about these fascinating coins.

Have you seen the group of pharaonic (mostly) entering the market since October 2022 on eBay? I've been told that this group is from Syria, but specifically where and when is unknown, or at least that information, for various reasons, is being held back. Could they be more coins from the 1989 Syrian hoard, or are they a new group? Generally speaking the coins being offered are in very nice condition and well made with good quality metal for imitations.

Here are a couple of examples:

This owl is a Buttrey B type, I believe.

Pharaonic imitation owl, late 5th-mid 4th centuries BC.
16.97 grams
"Syria Group 2022"



I'm not sure about the Buttrey type for this owl. It could be a variation of type B.

There appear to be many Buttrey type X owls in the group, and I hope to photograph more soon.

Pharaonic imitation owl late 5th-mid 4th centuries BC.
16.71 grams
"Syria Group 2022"

 

My three:

 

Thank you for the info about Buttrey-types recently on ebay. I had not noticed them (so many owls, on ebay !!!).

The hoard I'm currently working on is composed of imitative Levantine drachms and more than 350 tetradrachms of different categories.

There are 5th c. Attic classic owls like this one:


Buttrey M and B types with the palmette "croix de Lorraine" (minted in Egypt in the early 4th c.) like this one:



Buttrey-Flament type A (that's rare ! probably not from Egypt but from Levant):

Buttrey-Flament type X, the most unathenian of all, with the boteh ear and the long owl claws :


... but that's not all ! (see the next post)

 

in this hoard there are also many early 4th c. Attic owls, which can be called "Lentini types". They are the earliest issues with Athena's eye seen from profile, and have a Greek classical style. These coins have been also found in Sicilian hoards like the Lentini hoard, which can be dated (thanks to Sicilian issues in the same hoards) to the 390s-380s. These coins are struck on cast flans, most of them were melted in Athens in 353 and re-struck on folded flans as pi-styles. This is why they are so rare and found only far from Athens, in Sicily or the Levant:


another one :

another one:


... and there are pi-styles, struck on folded flans after 353 BC, like this one:

or this one:


... and a few imitative owls on large flans (in near mint condition) I'd like to attribute to Egypt just before it was re-taken by the Persians in 343, like this one:

 

I’d want a complete face of Athena and complete owl. Missing the crest (even all of it) is not a big deal for me.

 

That's an impressive hoard of drachms and tetradrachms! I cannot afford to buy an entire hoard, so I must be satisfied purchasing individual coins from a group or groups of owls when they are available.

I have one "Lentini" type owl, the earliest of the intermediate 4th-3rd centuries issues. They are quite expensive at auction, so this one came by way of eBay. This example does have some die rust, particularly on the obverse, as well as some porosity.

Athens, owl, 393-353 BC, early intermediate, rare.
16.61 grams



I am waiting on three more coins from the so-called "Syria Group 2022", then I will photograph all and post them.