Riding the Crest

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That's a very appealing coin, beautifully photographed.

I like the style, centering and surfaces - an excellent example.

I don't know how NGC rated the surfaces as 3 out of 5, but I don't put much credence to this rating system.

 

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Yes, the later owls produced through the new style owls are a fascinating field to pursue and study.

The practice of folding the flan of an existing coin and re-striking it is a very interesting subject. It appears that this practice was not confined to Athens, as exemplified by a coin from Arabia.



I will create a thread on this and other folded/imitative owls in the near future.

 

Almost a full crest!

Samaria. Circa 375-333 BC. AR Obol (9mm, 0.76g, 12h). Obv: Helmeted head of Athena right. Rev: Owl standing facing, wings spread. Ref: Meshorer and Qedar 87; HGC 10, 416. Very Fine, find patina. This tiny coin finds its inspiration in the Athenian dekadrachm. Photo courtesy CNG.

 

Thanks for the interesting link, @zumbly! As a result I'm coming around to the hair view. The comparisons with Arethusa on the Syracusan tets and especially the archaic owls are particularly convincing, at least that the original intention was to represent hair.

Here are some more archaic tets. On some, as in the first example, both the loops on the neck and the waves on the forehead are represented by dots - looks like the same hair. On others, they're both lines. Then there are some combos, with dots, lines, and dotty lines in various places.


It seems the engravers were experimenting with lots of different styles, and something eventually solidified. Here's an experiment that seems to put earrings all along the forehead!


It may be that, decades after the design solidified, the new engravers didn't really know what they were depicting, they were just following a pattern - not uncommon for designs that last longer than a century. (So Z: I think we should promote our examples as "lacking any ambiguous design elements." A feature, not a bug! )

For those curious about the sources & original auction details for the above coins (none of which are mine):
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1175086 (a truly amazing example!)
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=5877737
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2834701
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=4292293
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=4870629
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=6669627

 

Thanks for summarizing the various archaic tet designs. I am also interested in this, and notice there is one more to add under your "lines only" category. Here it is, from CNG (not mine):

Details: https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=357616

 

The wavy lines are cool! (Though we don't know if it's "lines only" since we can't see the loops on the neck. Most archaic tet flans don't allow us to see them.)

 

That CNG coin is exceptional.

Here's my coin, minted during the Persian Wars, typically crude, on an oblong flan:

ATTICA, Athens. AR Tetradrachm (17.23g), c. 500-480 BC.

Head of Athena wearing unwreathed Attic helmet with rickrack crest and
earring right, hair drawn in waves / Owl with large head standing right, head
facing, triple olive sprig behind, (Α)Θ(Ε) before, all within incuse square.
Seltman Group G. Rare. about Very Fine, from the time of the Persian Wars.

 

Very nice archaic tet!

 

Thanks. That coin was something of a budget breaker, but the wavy hair line is somewhat atypical and the strike/detail is good for this period.

I imagine that the CNG coin must have sold for a few thousand dollar. I tried to look it up online, but without any luck.

 

The CNG coin was sold for $5,500.

 

Thanks for putting up those examples, Sev. Certainly instructive to see those varieties all together.

Great idea!