I was following an auction with this Athens owl being offered but never really trusted the attribution enough to place a bid. Shouldn't a Starr Group V.A owl have three separate tail feathers? Attica, Athens AR Tetradrachm. Circa 465-460 BC. Head of Athena right, wearing crested Attic helmet ornamented with three olive leaves above visor and spiral palmette on bowl, round earring with central boss, and pearl necklace / Owl standing to right with head facing, olive sprig and crescent behind, ΑΘΕ before; all within incuse square. Starr Group V.A; HGC 4, 1596. 17.21g, 24mm, 10h. Extremely Fine; attractive old cabinet tone. From the inventory of a UK dealer.
You are right; this is not STARR V, it is after V, in the early days of the mass coinage. The provenance noted is hilarious the least to say; a dealer buys one from the hoard and resells so now it comes "From the inventory of a UK dealer"
Hello I am a new member. I have collected world and ancient coins starting in 1980, which I guess dates me, but hopefully not in geological terms. Over the past few years I have refocused my attention on the coinage of Attica, both Athenian and imitative. I agree that coin depicted above is not from Starr Group V. Still it is a beautiful, aesthetic example that is quite typical of the early mass production tetradrachms. I think it is more from the period of 460-455 BCE period, but I might be off; dating these coins is a matter of some controversy. I hope, in the future to participate in other discussions. I have finished recently Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War (431 - 404 BCE). It is the recounting of a war that ultimately lead to the fall of Athens. It is a tale of ambition, class warfare, greed, jealousy, treachery, military disaster and the struggle between democracy and aristocracy. Sound familiar?
LOVE the Coinage and history of the peloponnesian war(s)! Hope to see more of you and your collection!
I bought this owl from a member of my coin club and posted it here on this forum. The opinion on whether it was real or not was about 50/50. Well I sent it into NGCs Ancient Service and... My only complaint was that they didn't put it in the slab flush, one side is higher than the other, it looks better in person.
