Today's Roma wins

I do have a couple of coins coming in from E-Sale 90, notably a tetradrachm attributed to Philistia. This is a somewhat controversial coin, at least in attributing the actual city of origin, as opposed to a region.

The style of the coin is very close to that of Athens, but the two obverse characters, one on the lower cheek and the other on the helmet's neck guard sets it apart.

Generally, I like to photograph coins before posting. It's good practice for me.

However, here is the coin. Once it arrives I'll take more pics.

 

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You mean this coin? (17.17g, 23mm, 7h). It is a real splendour


Wow! if it's a Philistian imitation, it is almost perfect, for the style and the weight (only 0.03g less than the theoretical Attic standard !). It is the die orientation that is not Attic. The marks on Athena's cheek are puzzling: letters or just alterations of the die surface?

 

Great wins @kirispupis. I too looked at the Philistian imitations but was concentrating on another era entirely. Bidding was not as frenzied as I expected so most will probably feel happy about bagging a bargain. Having said that, some coins were estimated at £100 and sold for ten times the estimate. I thought the basic idea of an estimate is to at least be realistic, let's say 50-70% of actual hammer, otherwise what is the point.

Did manage to get some unusual and seldom offered coins and was quite pleased. I'll post a selection here.

Kingdom of Macedon, temp. Antigonos I Monophthalmos - Lysimachos AR Tetradrachm In the name and types of Alexander III. Uncertain mint in Macedonia or Greece, circa 310-290 BC. Head of Herakles to right, wearing lion skin headdress / Zeus Aëtophoros seated to left, holding sceptre; AΛEΞANΔPOY to right, Phrygian helmet to left, with griffin-crest, in left field.

Price 873; Müller 855 var. (helmet to right). 16.89g, 29mm, 12h.



Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, Cleopatra VII Thea Neotera Æ 21mm. Damascus, dated SE 280 = 33/2 BC. Diademed and draped bust of Cleopatra to right / Tyche seated to left on rock outcrop, extending hand and cradling cornucopia; LΠΣ (date) to left; below, river-god Chrysorrhoas swimming to right; all within laurel wreath.

RPC I 4783; Svoronos 1893; SNG Copenhagen (Syria) 419; DCA 497; HGC 9, 1462. 9.07g, 21mm, 12h.

Not sure if that is a test cut or a flan fault on the edge but there don't appear to be many in GVF quality about:




Otho Æ Semis of Antioch, Seleucis and Pieria. AD 69. IMP M O[THO] CAE AVG, laureate head to right / SC within circle; • above, all within wreath.

McAlee 322a; RPC I 4321. 7.78g, 24mm, 12h.

Just liked the rust toning and details on this one:

 

Yes, that is the coin. It is a bit of a gamble, at least in terms of the exact mint, which is unresolved and might remain so for quite a while.

I have examined the photos and compared this coin's two obverse character marks many times over the period preceding the auction. I also have several other imitative owls, mostly pharaonic, but others from Bactria, Parthenia, Arabia and "Eastern Mint" (attributed to a much wider region). The marks are intentional and apparently hand engraved into the die, in the same way as Lot 667, the preceding coin.

Here's my take. I am not an authority on ancient alphabets and languages, so I rely on what I can refer to on Google.

The mark on the neck guard is clearly engraved in a distinct form that resembles an Aramaic waw or zain. The marks (yes, I think there are two) on the lower cheek are a resh that was engraved over another character, which is hard to decipher. There is an arm pointing to the right, which could be a sadhe character.



You have much more knowledge in this area, so I am really interested in your take.

As mentioned in the description of lot 667, these marks may or may not refer to a particular mint. I am inclined to think these character marks as die control marks of some sort, or perhaps engraver's initials?

Also, note that lot 679 did not receive any bids. I am not sure what other potential bidders were considering, but I am not sure if the character or symbol on the obverse was applied to the die or is a counterstamp. I am leaning towards the latter, due to the appearance of a lower, or depressed area that is the result of a die applied to the coin after production.

Edit: I did get confirmation for lot 668, so here, again is the Roma photo for reference:

 

Well... I really can't tell about these marks. What I find problematic is that they are not conspicuous. It can be a zain or a waw, and it can be a resh or a dalath, but nothing really clear. Usually mint-marks on imitative owls are very clear - after all it's what they are about - and are placed right on Athena's cheek or in the reverse field. I don't remember any other example of mint marks placed on the neck, the lower cheek or the helmet's neck guard. Maybe you should ask Haim Gitler, an authority on this topic.

 

Yes, the characters seem rather makeshift, unlike another eastern owl that I have. This coin, by the way, was in a NGC slab without any notation about the character, which I think is an Aramaic nun:



Getting back to the question of the locations that characters or symbols appear on imitative owls, you're correct: some imitations have clear characters in the reverse field and/or on the cheek of Athena. I have seen them on the neck guard as well. This is a didrachm from the kingdom of Qataban in South Arabia.



Here the South Arabian letter K is on the neck guard and a monogram of composed of the South Arabian letters H and M on the cheek, according to Leu Numismatik AG. On the reverse we have oyal Qatabanian monogram composed of the South Arabian letters H and L.

Here's a link to the page:

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?similar=428787

On the same page, there is another owl, attributed to Philistia, by CNG:



CNG describes this coin as having an Aramaic A on neck guard, which is quite clear. Stylistically the coin has some similarities to Athenian owls, but also some differences, especially with the style of the owl on the reverse.

This whole area of imitative owl coinage is, as I have said before, a work in progress. Due to the ephemeral nature of hoard discoveries and their dispersals, getting detailed information on these coins is very problematic. Coins are coming out of the Middle East, appearing on price lists and auctions with little documentation, at best.