So where are all of the Athens Owls that are showing up in almost every auction house coming from? Has someone released a lifetime collection or have new hoards been discovered? I have several of these myself, and in the last six months or so a sudden influx of these coins has really played havoc on their value. Does anyone have an idea as to where the coins have come from or how many there are? There has also been a large increase in the availability of Alexander III drachms and tetradrachms that have me wondering about that source also.
Probably a hoard. I noticed it too but I don't think much of it since both are common coins, to begin with. Same with Richard I "Lionheart". Rarely saw them and now they're everywhere.
That is good info to know, Jay GT4. Hope the hoard has a mix of different time periods, not just Classical. I plan to get a nice transitional this year.
Apparently there was recently a huge hoard of Athens tets discovered in Turkey, some sources say the hoard contained about 45.000 coins. So those are the ones you're seeing flooding the market at the moment.
The ones I have seen have been mostly the same style (therefore date) and high grade. Can the market absorb that many coins in that grade? In time, yes. I have not seen the poorly struck ones yet and the dealers that offered them bragged about theirs being the pick of the litter. What will be the market for a few thousand off centered ones?
Time will tell. But, a small hoard of Seljuks of Rum AV Dinars where found in Turkey, a while ago. The number of coins from this find are not known, estimates were between 50-500. Prices have come way down in past ten years.
It's generally interesting to see which coins currently enter the market in great quantity. One obvious example are Athenian tetradrachms, another are the Lycian 1/6 and 1/3 staters which CNG auctions off by the dozen. There seems to be a similar situation when it comes to the early "warrior staters" of Aspendos. These were considered rare and expensive when I started to take a serious interest in Greek coins five years ago, now imperfect examples almost go for a song. The coin below, for example, was sold for about $40 after fees. I somewhat doubt that it's a mere coincidence that all these coins point to a provenance in southwest Turkey and come from roughly the same time period. Aspendos, Pamphylia, AR stater, ca. 465–430 BC. Obv: Warrior walking r., holding sword and shield. Rev: Triskeles, two test cuts. 17mm, 10.91g. Ref: SNG France 1–11. Ex Savoca, Blue Auction 14, lot 366.
There's also currently a hoard of Mark Antony cistophoric Tetradrachms being slowly dispersed on the market, hoard seems to have contained mostly mid grade specimens though.
I actually do not mind mid grade Cistophori. I find these coins attractive. I may have have to keep an eye out for one.
I would not be too optimistic about a sudden price drop. I have noticed that despite the large numbers of electrum hektes that have been entering the market lately that the prices have remained remarkably stable. Athenian owls are one of the most popular ancient coins on the market and I suspect that even if the hoard is that large and the quality of the coins consistently good, i suspect that the hoard will be absorbed with minimal difference in price.
In my experience, most hoards of rarer items come to an end sooner than I expected and then they go back to being hard to find again. I suggest picking them up while they are available or you will be kicking yourself later. There was a large run of Phaselis staters a year or so ago and now they have tapered off to nothing. I am glad I snagged this one when I did. CNG had a run of EF tetrobols from Olynthos a few years ago. I kept waiting around for some reason and I missed out. :-( The current flood of owls will dry up eventually... John
