I believe that the owls in the coins below were created by the same die artist-What do you think. The top is an imitation I think the bottom one is too and not just based on the owl.
Wow thanks for all the interest! I won't tease you anymore. One obverse that only looks like an obverse for the official Ares type;3 different reverses, Headdress of Isis, Ares and Stag. The HoI is an invented reverse copy and interestingly imitates a type that was officially issued some 7 or so before the Sullan siege. Ares looks very like the official Ares type but the second magistrate's name is spelled wrong, the final E should be a Σ. The horse protomes are just dots and Athena's hair is lank. The official Ares coinage is post-Sullan! Stag's reverse features an awkward undersized owl.Stag is also a post Sullan issue. The new Stag is an unpublished imitation. Look at the overstuffed owl just like that on the imitation Ares-no doubt by the same artist. The headcap covering is stuffed full of feathers. The 2nd control IEI is an error for IΣI. The obverse looks similar to an official Stag for this period but the horse protomes are just dots, the hair is lank and the curl of hair escaping by the ear from the helmet is straight and not curled as in the official examples. Where these imitations were made we do not know but the time of the 2nd or 3rd Mithradatic wars look likely and produced by pro-Roman supporters.
I can not quite follow your train of thought; perhaps this was the case for others as well. It requires more knowledge than I possess on this topic. What exactly is the point you want to make?
The point I hoped to have made is the identification of this coin (below) as an IMITATION related to the known imitations from this group of 3 in Thompson (below, below). One obverse, 3 differing reverses-impossible as Thompson wrote. The owl on the middle is a dead ringer for the Stag in the top picture, which has a error as a second control and some giveaways on the obverse! Welcome to the wonderful world of NewStyles!
Interesting. It is possible that the same engraver was used to create the reverse owls, along with other design elements. I am sure that the Athens Mint, as well as the mints of other cities, including Rome, had a staff of engravers who worked on producing dies from year to year. They might have even had "contract" engravers who worked outside the mint, but that's speculation on my part. I'm not sure about the imitation aspect, not being familiar with that vast opus produced by Margaret Thompson on the new style coinage of Athens. Stylistically the tetradrachms posted seem very similar in style, unlike the earlier tets that had distinctive imitations produced in the eastern Mediterranean and further east as far a Bactria and even India.
