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<p>[QUOTE="Ignoramus Maximus, post: 8344364, member: 104741"]Interesting coin, [USER=118780]@kirispupis[/USER] <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> Congrats. Finding an imitation is one thing, finding an attribution is quite another. I hope you'll succeed with.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is is my only imitational owl:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1480029[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>18,5 mm 16,90 gr.</p><p>Obv: helmeted head of Athena.</p><p>Rev: facing owl, body to right. Olive sprig and crescent to left, (?) to right.</p><p>(seller's pic).</p><p><br /></p><p>Though I'm not an owl-whisperer, I believe I got the attribution in the end. The clue, I believe, lies in the edge of the letters you can just make out to the right on the reverse. (Incidentally, it's also what alerted me to the coin and what made me bid on it). The only way the letters make sense to me is when you read them as Aramaic, it's definitely not ΑΦE.</p><p>Aramaic script leaves three candidates: Artaxerxes III as pharaoh of Egypt, and Sabakes and Mazakes as satraps of Mesopotamia. Comparing these three, the legend (MZDK) for Mazakes is the only one that fits the lettering on my coin (and it's a perfect match, I believe). The style and the dumpy flan (only 18,5mm across) also fit the type. So, unless there are other Aramaic owl varieties I am unaware of, I think my specimen is a Mazakes from Mesopotamia. (And feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!)</p><p><br /></p><p>And regardless, it's a great story to learn how, some 70 years after the Athenian empire collapsed the famous owl, by way of Egypt and with a little help from Alexander, became the first coin to be struck in Mesopotamia. Who said ancient history was boring?<img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Ignoramus Maximus, post: 8344364, member: 104741"]Interesting coin, [USER=118780]@kirispupis[/USER] :) Congrats. Finding an imitation is one thing, finding an attribution is quite another. I hope you'll succeed with. Here is is my only imitational owl: [ATTACH=full]1480029[/ATTACH] 18,5 mm 16,90 gr. Obv: helmeted head of Athena. Rev: facing owl, body to right. Olive sprig and crescent to left, (?) to right. (seller's pic). Though I'm not an owl-whisperer, I believe I got the attribution in the end. The clue, I believe, lies in the edge of the letters you can just make out to the right on the reverse. (Incidentally, it's also what alerted me to the coin and what made me bid on it). The only way the letters make sense to me is when you read them as Aramaic, it's definitely not ΑΦE. Aramaic script leaves three candidates: Artaxerxes III as pharaoh of Egypt, and Sabakes and Mazakes as satraps of Mesopotamia. Comparing these three, the legend (MZDK) for Mazakes is the only one that fits the lettering on my coin (and it's a perfect match, I believe). The style and the dumpy flan (only 18,5mm across) also fit the type. So, unless there are other Aramaic owl varieties I am unaware of, I think my specimen is a Mazakes from Mesopotamia. (And feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!) And regardless, it's a great story to learn how, some 70 years after the Athenian empire collapsed the famous owl, by way of Egypt and with a little help from Alexander, became the first coin to be struck in Mesopotamia. Who said ancient history was boring?:)[/QUOTE]
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