Here's a "Holy Grail" coin, for which I had been searching and waiting, for a long time. The ever popular classic Athena tetradrachm. Finally, last year, I found an example, which was within my budget, and which met my requirements. For the classic Athena tetradrachm, I'm an "Athena man", rather than an "Owl man". That is, my favorite side of the coin, is the Athena side. I like the owl side also, but the Athena side was my priority. For sure, the damaged owl, lowered the cost. And, of course, the test cut, lowered the cost. Perhaps the damage on the owl, was caused by the test cut. And, of course, the lack of any crest on the Athena side, lowered the cost. And, of course, the lack of an NGC Ancients slab, lowered the cost. I've always liked the classic Athena tetradrachm. I like the primitive, yet beautiful portrait of Athena. The "side eye" reminds me, of ancient Egyptian wall paintings. The coin is an artifact, from the mysterious, ancient past. Athens AR Tetradrachm. 449 BC To 413 BC. Sear 2526. 24.8 mm. 17.15 grams. Obverse : Head Of Athena Wearing Helmet Facing Right. Reverse : Owl Standing, Olive Twig And Crescent On Left, Alpha Theta Epsilon On Right, All Within Incuse Square. Test Cut. Egyptian wall painting, from the interior of King Tutankhamun's tomb, circa 1323 BC.
Thanks @longshot. Thanks @Paddy54. Thanks @The Meat man. @El Cazador You went inside King Tut's tomb? That must have been interesting. I didn't know, that his tomb was a tourist attraction. I'll try to watch some Youtube videos about it. Here's a Wikipedia article about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_Tutankhamun
Nice owl, or rather Athena! The eye style of the classic standardized owls of the mid to later 5th century BC is a carryover of the archaic style used for the first series of owls, called archaic owls, which began around the last decade of the 6th century BC and lasted until the second Persian War in 480 BC. The archaic eye can be seen in Egyptian art, and also Babylonian and Assyrian art. Babylonia Assyria Notice the pupils in the eyes of the Assyrian mural? The Athenians also put a pupil in the archaic eye of Athena in many instances, such as this example: Athens, archaic tetradrachm, circa 500-480 BC. Purchased from Kirk Davis This practice did not extend to the classical owls. The early types show some experimentation going on at the mint, with different style owls, hair and placement of the palmette, that twisty ornament on the helmet, but I've never seen any classical owl with a pupil - only a blank almond shaped eye. With the introduction of the intermediate owls in 393 BC, a much more natural profile eye was introduced, pupil and all.
Thanks @robinjojo. Also, thanks for the interesting information, about the Babylonian art and Assyrian art. And, thanks for the nice summary, of some of the different styles of Athena/Owl tetradrachms. Archaic, classic, and intermediate. And a later style, of course, is the new style Athena/Owl tetradrachm, not mentioned above, of which some collectors are quite fond.
