I also took this picture, which is by far the best I've done photo-wise. AR Tetradrachm 24 mm, 17.19 g Chester Starr arranged Athens' coinage from ca. 480 until the mid 5th century into five groups, and his chronology is still widely accepted today (although the dating of the final groups is now considered too late). The style of the "transitional" Athenian tetradrachms from the late 470s through the early 450s B.C. – Starr's groups II through V – is considered the high mark of Athenian coinage. By the time of Starr's Group IV, production of tetradrachms had steadily increased and the uptick in the number of required dies (and engravers) necessitated a greater standardization of style. On the obverse, the head of Athena changes little from Starr's Group III – the goddess has a bold profile and retains her "archaic smile"; the hair on her forehead is arranged in two waves, with a small bend above the eye; and on her helmet, her leaves float above the visor (sometimes referred to as a "laurel wreath," these leaves were first introduced after the victory over the Persians in 480/79 BC). One difference from Group III is the helmet's palmette, which goes from pointing to the adjacent olive leaf to more parallel. On the reverse, the back leg of the Group IV's owl often stretches further back and the tail feather no longer touches the rear claw.
Thanks! Yeah, the test cut brought it into the realm of affordability for me. I'd rather have a coin with sharper features and a minor test cut than a softer, though pristine coin.
Good job on the picture! I have been trying to see the differences between this type and those from the next group. You pic will finally give me a good look at the details. Thanks, from one who is NOT a specialist in these.
I didn't know anything about these coins until recently (Cointalk members really helped me out here). The main difference between Starr IV and Starr V is the top wave of Athena's hair. On Starr IV it has that indentation above the eye. On Starr V there is no indentation and the hair goes across the forehead in parallel curves. The big difference between all the transitional coinage identified by Starr and the subsequent mass coinage issued after 454 (or 449) BC is the owl's tail feather on the reverse. The Starr transitional coinage owls all have three prongs on their bottom tail feather while the later mass coinage owls all have only a single prong.
