OK - so I'm reading this coin description Sounds exciting, right? Here is the image ==> How can these be reconciled?
If you wish to collect small denomination Yehud coins get used to it. They are very poorly made. Actually, this one with a decently recognizable reverse is not too bad.
The eagle standing, and traces of letters though the letters are hard to make out. Seriously, I would have recognized this coin if you hadn't posted an attribution, at least recognized the type.
And I thought determining fake's were hard when I could actually read the coin and tell what's on it.
Might not be the making's of a Yehud collector if this one stumps you. The eagle's body is from lower left to upper right, with the head looking back. Other things in the fields are the letters. The obverse, recognizing the reverse, is recognizable as Athena wearing a war helmet with crescent. Where the helmet meets her forehead is easy to see, as are her eyes and nose in the bottom right. See it? Not all ancients, especially from little provincial areas like this, and struck on such small flans, are the prettiest. I find them immensely interesting though.
To me the reverse is clearly an eagle but I do note that the original description calls it an owl. I don't collect these but have enough hard to decipher coins of other types that I appreciate the clarity of this reverse. The obverse is more a matter of faith. I take a lot of coin photos. Sometimes I have photographed coins for friends. I now consider a coin to be my friend if I can tell which side to put 'up' when I'm shooting the photo. Those who have seen medieval European, Islamic, Indian and a few others will understand what I mean. This week I shot some coins for a friend to post on a VCoins sale site. There was a Crusader coin that was a mystery to me on both sides. At least here I see the eagle and see the reverted head so this coin must be approaching 'proof' for the genre. :rollling:
It appears to be misattributed to me. Compare it to this: http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=194464
I see the problem. A simple copy/paste error: Yehud, RARE Gerah, Retrograde AROUND Owl, H-1053 Yehud, before 333 BC, silver gerah, 8.3 mm, 0.42 grams. Helmeted head of Athena, invariably from broken or heavily worn dies. / Owl stands to rt. head facing the letters YHWD are retrograde, and scattered around the owl, on this specimen the retrograde 'daled' is especially clear to the right of the eagle. Hendin-1053.
The eagle is clearly visible as are a couple of letters, but I have to admit I'm striking out on Athena's head.
http://www.bible-history.com/ibh/Greek+Coins/Other+Greek+Coins/Coin+of+Athens Here is a drawing of Athena on a coin. I see on Ruben's where the helmet meets the forehead at 2 o'clock, her eye at 3, and her nose at 4. The obverse would be easier to see if it were rotated counterclockwise 10 degrees. The large ridge in the center of the coin from lower left to upper right is the bottom of the helmet where it meets her head. See? Easy.
If thisis what it is supposed to look like I'm not seeing it http://www.coinarchives.com/a/lotvi...Lot=1529&Val=1424f40e77c3753fb85d368cfdba005f
Like #2 or 3, but think the reverse could be an eagle instead of an owl. Remember, this is a tiny coin, and made from a culture who did not have very advanced coin making. Hence the design is harder to make out.
