Happy Birfday to me...from Alcibiades! How to determine Starr group?

pprp · Jun 17, 2021

Ryro said: ↑

Of all days for this to arrive (I did win it 3 weeks ago) it landed right on my porch this morning, the morning of my 40th Birthday!
View attachment 1319190
Attica - Athens - Owl Tetradrachm
450-405 BCE
Obv: helmeted head of Athena right. Rev: owl standing right; olive branch and crescent behind, AΘE before, within incuse square. 17.11 grams. Good very fine.

Literature
Sear 2526.
Purchased from Timeline auctions May 2021

A coin clearly used by Alcibiades when he absconded from Athens to Sparta during the Peloponnesian war! Pretty sure I can even see his pretty boy thumb print

Wishful thinking/dreaming aside, boyO does this coin bring favorite tales of that war rushing to my head like 5 shots of Absinthe taken in quick succession.
Guys whose names will remain legendary as long as the sun shines like Pericles:

(Pericles was said to have worn his helmet all the time due to his having an oddly long shaped head. No joke.)

Thucydides:

(at least Thucydides had the good sense to die right before the war ended)

Nicias:

(poor bastard got played twice and and gets to take all the blame)

Socrates:

and of course Alcibiades!

Betrayals, unforeseeable changes of fortune, fighting on land see and everywhere in between. Heck, Alcibiades even slept with a Spartan queen during it all and was such a big deal that even she bragged about it
And NOBODY would have guessed that this brutal, long and drawn out war would have ended with Athens (kings of the sea) losing a naval battle to SPARTA at Aegospotami!?!?!

I read through a bunch of old threads, tried searching for a site that lists how you can identify a coins Starr group and even searched ACsearch for coins under Sear 2526 hoping one might say. No luck. Anyone want to tell me or at least point me in the right direction of my new BFFs Starr group?
Any help is appreciated. And please post those coins from the time period of the Peloponnesian war, great/favorite stories from the war or anything that sinks your navy!
Click to expand...

Happy birthday!

Your coin falls after the STARR groups, it's one of the mass coinage types. The most prominent characteristic of the STARR owls is that the tail has 3 distinctively split feathers.

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ominus1 · Jun 17, 2021

..dandi coin for a dandy dude on a dandee day~!...coingrats and happy B-day(belated) ol(d) pal!

Severus Alexander · Jun 17, 2021

Happy Birthday, Ryro!! (a day late, sorry.) And congrats (again - I had a sneak preview) on the fantastic owl! Didja buy yourself a Macedonian shield coin too? (Surely? You're worth more than one coin, yes?)

Sometimes you can get Starr group owls incorrectly listed as mass owls. Like my Starr Group II, the first with the olive leaves and crescent :

@Terence Cheesman tells me my mass owl is a Flament Group II, c. 440-430:

I have no idea, but Terence knows his stuff on these.

Terence Cheesman · Jun 17, 2021

Some time ago I did discuss the differences between the Starr group coins principally the Starr Group IV and V coins with those of the mass coinage principally the Flament Group 1 coins. Ryro's coin looks to me like a Flament II coin.

Terence Cheesman said: ↑

I can understand NewStyleKing's as well as others, frustration with the series as it is an extremely complex coinage. Despite its importance the coinage has been only superficially studied. Complicating the problem is that about half the coins being offered in the trade that are listed as Starr groups coins are not. They are usually improperly listed examples of the Mass coinage series which is currently dated 454-404 B.C. Perhaps to start off I will submit a Starr Group IV Coin View attachment 1115818
The easiest feature to note when tying to distinguish the Starr Group IV coins from the later issues is the slight wave in the hair circled in red below. View attachment 1115819 The reverse featured the splayed tail feathers on the owl Circled in red below View attachment 1115822 Now we can try to look at the Starr group V coins. This group is divided into two groups A and B. Below is a Starr V A Coin View attachment 1115827 Below is a Starr V B Coin View attachment 1115828 Picture CNG 111 Lot 147 This is not my coin. The principal difference between the Starr Group IV coins and the Group V coins is the treatment of the hair over the forehead of Athena. The treatment of the hair has been simplified
View attachment 1115831
The current hoard seems to have had very few if any of the Starr Group V A coins. The main difference between the two groups is that the owl on the A issues seem to be smaller and less robust than the B issues. Now we get to the Mass coinage. Flament divides this coinage into three broad groups Group I Group II and Group III The early Flament Group I coins which some here have called "transitional" issues Share many features with the Starr Group V B issues except one Below Early Flament Group I coin View attachment 1115835 The tail feathers on the owl are no longer splayed but are treated as a single prong. View attachment 1115838 Conparison between the reverse of a Starr V B and a Flament Group I Early. In conclusion that this is an extremely simplified examination of this period of the coinage of Athens. All photos except for the ones from CNG are done by W Hansen
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Happy Birfday to me...from Alcibiades! How to determine Starr group?

pprp Well-Known Member

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ominus1 Well-Known Member

Severus Alexander find me at NumisForums

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Happy Birfday to me...from Alcibiades! How to determine Starr group?

pprp Well-Known Member

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Severus Alexander find me at NumisForums

Terence Cheesman Well-Known Member

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