I got a message from a seller earlier this year to be on the lookout for a coat, a gift. I replied that I don't want a coat, only the coin that I ordered. The seller replied that the coin is in the button. Very strange. However, insofar that this shipment was well overdue I was willing to wait. In March a UPS Saver package from Turkey arrived, not as a box, but instead wrappings of plastic and tape. Something soft was inside. Inside was a small woman's coat. The coat, a kind of cute one in a plaid pattern, had one large fabric covered button. Prying the top of the button off revealed the coin wrapped in aluminum foil. After some basic cleaning, here is the coin today. The coin had some kind of sticky substance adhering to the surface. A quick bath in 100% acetone removed it. Egypt, pharaonic owl, circa 5th-4th centuries BC. The 'button owl'. 17.04 grams I couldn't salvage the button and I ended up donating the coat. I hope someone can find a replacement button and use the coat. This shipment was clearly intended to bypass export restrictions in Turkey. I don't like this furtive way of sending coins through the mails and I really didn't expect this sort of method for a somewhat lowly owl, in "as found" condition, with patches of horn silver and with a test cut. While I guess some would call this an adventure, I just come away feeling bad about the whole affair. Still, this owl is a welcome addition to the collection.
This is a one-of-a-kind story. Do they have in Turkey restrictions in place that one can't buy an ancient coin? Don't think you should feel bad about it, since they must have a lot of coins there waiting to be sold, and it is really a great story of your owl.
Thanks. Turkey has strict export restrictions on any antiquity found or residing within its border. Anyone attempting to take artifacts and ancient coins out of the country risks significant legal consequences if caught. I guess what makes me sad is the sheer wastefulness and being part of a duplicitous act having a shipment sent this way, but again I didn't know what to expect. I'll get over it.
This is the first shipment of this type for me, and probably the last. As for the coin itself, I think there is a high likelihood that it is from Syria, and it seems that Turkey is where some end up. Owls of this type seem to be emanating from the war-torn and earthquake ravaged country. I also got one recently that apparently came from the area of Nablus. Late in 2022 a group of pharaonic owls entered the market through two Israeli coin dealers. They've been showing up quite regularly on auctions by CNG and Roma.
You shouldn't feel bad about this in any way. You certainly have a nice story to tell anyone you show this coin to. Reminds me of a World WarII spy story.
Have you investigated the coin to find out if it something that should be returned to whom ever it belongs to. Some countries don't want any of their antiquities leaving their country and they go to great lengths to find the originator and the receiver. That info was in my "way-back machine" and I have no idea what counties on the other side of the Atlantic do about any of their antiquities found in foreign counties. This may be one of those stories that should be kept to one's self. Best of luck.
Yes, and that is really the crux of the issue with ancient coins. My post is very graphic, and while I find the packaging designed to deceive, it is symbolic of the state of many ancient coins entering the market. Ancient coin collecting, as is true of any field of collecting, depends on the churning of the supply of new coins to satisfy the constant demand of collectors for "something new that is old". Were the ancient coin market dependent only on coins from collections and dealer inventories there simply would not be enough coins to go around, and prices would generally skyrocket, putting many collectors at a distinct disadvantage. The entry of coins from hoards and individual finds are an important component to the ancient coin market. But, enter the issue of export restrictions, embodied in the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA) of 1983 and the various MOUs (memorandum of understanding) between the US and other countries to preserve artifacts, including coins, within their borders. While it is important to crack down on the looting of cultural artifacts, some of which are unique and of major historical and cultural value, with coins, it really is a different matter, a real can of worms as things stand. This is a topic that has been extensively discussed within this and other forums, notably regarding the recent infamous case of the Eid Mar aureus. I don't want to rehash what has been covered there, so suffice to say that here is a link to an article, from Coin Week, August 2022, on the state of exporting and importing ancient and other coins that many of you may have read. "Collecting Ancient Coins in an Era of Import Restrictions" https://coinweek.com/collecting-ancient-coins-in-an-era-of-import-restrictions/
Yeah, I'm not saying I agree with whatever law he was skirting. I guess it's a fine line between preserving a heritage and ownership of antiquities. All of us would be bummed if we couldn't legally buy coins or whatever other old stuff we collect.
A real unbelievable WTF story, but true! Ancient coins dealers use the same methods as drugs or arms traffickers. To detect hidden drugs or explosives, there are specially trained dogs who can smell the tiniest olfactive signature. But, as emperor Vespasian already noticed, a coin non olet. Well... not always... But your story sounds more like an old Tintin story... The Broken Ear.
More seriously, in the Middle East when a hoard is found and secured by the authorities, they sometimes make an inventory and stick on each coin a small adhesive label with the inventory number written on it. This is what the Museum of Gaza did when they first counted a hoard of owls, just like yours. Removing these tags left on the coins some sticky substance which had to be cleaned with lots of acetone. Of course, I suppose these pieces of adhesive cloth would not be stuck on coins going to be proposed for sale. It's purely... administrative. The coins were hoarded in a pottery which has been exposed to a fire, and a few of them have been burned. They bear the mark of this fire, like this one: This hoard was discovered in 2010 in Rafah, just next to the Egyptian border. The Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities could act very quickly and secure the whole of it. They roughly cleaned the coins and made an inventory, sticking these terrible little labels on each one, and counted a total of 1427 coins, all in silver, small (drachms) and large (tetradrachms). But when archaeologists came in 2012 to make a more scientific inventory, there were only 1216 coins in the museum safe or in the displays: 863 drachms and 353 tetradrachms. The drachms were very homogenous, all 863 were struck from only 5 different obverse dies, obviously a local minting, some being overstruck on Edomite dome-shaped coins. The tetradrachms were more diverse: the majority were probably bona fide Athenian pi-styles with no test-cuts, some where early 4th c. (even a die-link with a tetradrachm of the Sicilian Lentini hoard), some where Buttrey and Buttrey-Flament types from Egypt, a handful were probably bona fide classic owls of the late 5th c. The hoard may probably be dated between 353 and 343 BC. What about the missing 211 coins? Of course nothing official could be said about that, but everybody knows they have been given as a reward to different people involved in the discovery. In the 2010s several drachms from the same obverse dies as the 863 others have been proposed on the market : at least we can be 99% sure they came from this hoard. For the tetradrachms it is not possible to be that sure, but some that have hit the market in the same years may very well come from this hoard. I would not be surprised if it was the case with your specimen. Some of the people who were involved in this hoard discovery, inventory, etc. have links with Turkey, at least 2 of them live there now. Turkey is a well-known hub for antiquities from the Syrian and Mesopotamian war zones, but also from Palestine. I don't know if you remember the Greek life size bronze statue ("Apollo of Gaza") found in 2013 and immediately spirited away. Last time I heared of it, it was rumored in Turkey.
Thank you for the information. I've attempted to include site location information, however dubious it might be from the sellers, to the labels accompanying the coins. Some appear to be from the West Bank, notably Nablus. Gaza has been the location for a few, as well as Jordan. Again, the information is sketchy at best. The OP coin came from an Israeli seller who is no longer a registered member of eBay. He was a very reliable shipper in the past, but it seems that he got involved with shipping coins out of Turkey, resulting in huge delays, to the point where I think that was the main reason, due to a flurry of negative feedbacks, for his expulsion. I have heard of the "Apollo of Gaza" but not much in specific information, quite an infamous case in the world of antiquities. I do have 33 owls from a group offered in late 2022. I was told that they are from Syria. Virtually all but two are of the pharaonic type and generally in very nice condition. I hope to photograph them for a post that will include type information as well as weight, design variations and other data. I've created special labels for the group so they won't get mixed up with other examples!
