Acquiring an Athenian owl tetradrachm has been one of my main goals since I started collecting coins years ago. I was able to snatch up a very budget owl tetradrachm off of eBay years ago, but I was never satisfied with that coin. That tet was way too worn and ravaged by test cuts. So a few months ago, I started looking around for an Athenian owl upgrade. After weeks of browsing auctions, I came up with a budget and specific parameters for my new owl. I did not want to spend more than $500 total for my new owl. I didn't need a spectacular portrait of Athena, and I certainly wasn't aiming for a full crest tetradrachm due to my constrained budget. All I wanted for my upgrade was a serviceable portrait and a decent reverse with a clear and undamaged owl. After failures at almost a dozen auctions, I finally scored an upgrade at Heritage. I was certainly not expecting for my new owl to come from Heritage of all places, as my preconception was that Heritage tended to end up with very high hammer prices. Luckily, I scored a really nice owl, one that I am more than happy with, for a $300 hammer! After BP, taxes, and shipping, the coin cost me just under $420. My new owl has a full crest, or at least very close to a full crest, decent details that I would grade VF, a good strike with all the obverse details, except for parts of the Aegis, on flan, and in my opinion, perfect reverse strike. The one downside is a test cut on the reverse, but thankfully the test cut didn't damage any details. Heritage also described the coin as being brushed, but I do not mind that as an ancients collector. Anyways, here is my new owl! And here is a side by side comparison of my first Athenian owl tetradrachm, and my new upgrade! Finally, here is a video of the tet- 23mm, 17.2 grams, HGC 4, 1597. SNG Copenhagen 31-40. Kroll 8. Please share your Athenian owl tets, upgrades, and anything you feel apt to share!
Nice addition & upgrade. Attica, Athens (353 - 294 B.C) AR Tetradrachm O: Helmeted head of Athena right R: AΘE Owl standing right, head facing, olive sprig and crescent to left; all within incuse square. 16.59g 21 mm Kroll -; HGC 4, 1599 Ex. Numismatik-Naumann, Auction 52, Lot 126
A very nice upgrade with nearly full crest, @roman99 Congrats! Here is mine showing part of the crest.
Nice! Congratulations. And a great portrait, @roman99! Owls can be elusive, experience has taught me. If only because, at that price point, they have to compete with many other coins that grab your attention. Finally, I could no longer resist. After a few failed bids, I landed on this one: Whoever wielded the hammer on my coin did so convincingly and enthusiastically, as is testified by the many splits and cracks (the edge crack on 2h on the reverse goes all the way through the flan till halfway down the 'A') On the upside: as a result the owl sits nicely and snugly tucked away within his incuse square (just as I like it) and the bird looks as fresh and lively as it did 2450 years ago.
I love it! Great centering, great detail, and the test cut is perfectly placed so as to not interfere with devices. Test cuts add to the story of these coins so a small one like this, well placed, is actually rather nice . I think you got it for a very good price.
That's a very nice owl upgrade! The obverse, in particular, is nicely centered with much of the crest present. The reverse is also nice, with a relatively unobtrusive test cut that avoids cutting into the owl. It is almost as if the individual doing the test cut carefully placed it to avoid damaging the design. This is quite the exception with these test cuts, which appear to have been placed in haste by the testers and merchants. Also, there are some indicators that suggest your first owl might be an eastern (possibly Egyptian?) imitation patterned after a late mass production owl from Athens. The treatment of the earring, lips and nose on the obverse seem to vary from a typical Athenian owl. On the reverse, the Θ of AΘE has a very large dot in the middle, and the letters of the ethnic are much thicker than what would be expected on an Athenian owl. Also, the olive leaves and olive to the left of the owl are much larger and less refined, compared to the owl upgrade. Overall, the owl, even taking wear into account, is cruder when compared to your second owl. Compare the two owls and you'll see what I mean.
I don't think that I will get into collecting ancient Greek coins to any great extent, but I did want a Athenian Owl. I purchased this one at the Summer FUN show.
Good to see so much interest and splendid examples. I've also admired the Athenian Owl for some time and purchased this one five years ago from an online auction at Bertolami Fine Arts.
@roman99 your coin looks like a nice example of a Flament Group II Athenian owl. The reverse is very typical of this group. I do not believe it is Egyptian. The same is true of the coin posted by @Ignoramus Maximus as well as @Ryro. What is interesting is that the coin posted by @johnmilton is an version of a Group III coin with the characteristic eye which is opening at the bridge of the nose and the slightly smaller mouth. The owl again is very typical of this series. My Flament II Athens Ar tetradrachm circa 450-440 BC Obv Head of Athena right. Rv. Owl standing right head facing. Flament Group II 13/b 17.08 grms 25 mm Photo by W. Hansen As per usual I picked up this coin just before the big hoard made its appearance. However still happy with it.
I do have a pipeline of owls, one that has been around for while now. In recent years I have tried to concentrate on the imitative owls, since they are relatively a field that is new when compared to the literature on Athenian owls. I am house sitting this week, on a friend's lap top, so I don't have access to my photos on the hard drive of my PC at home. I am very old school in this respect. I don't even own a smart phone or iPhone. So, here are images from the seller of an imitative type recently purchased from an Israeli dealer. Other owls purchased from him have a West Bank or Jordan origin, so I suspect this all applies to the owl pictured below. Syria seems to be another source for these imitative owls, as well as some Athenian owls, both classical style and intermediate style. I have not seen any new style owls offered from these sources. This particular coin weighs 16.8 grams. Once the coin arrives I will take better images of it. This example is a very good approximation of an Athenian owl, but stylistically the obverse profile strongly suggests an origin in the Levant, probably one of the mints in Philistia that operated in the 5'th and 4'th centuries BC.
That's a very nice example of a late classical owl. For a while this type was attributed to Egypt, the "droopy eye" style, but now it is back to attribution to Athens.
