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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;robinjojo, post: 6670679, member: 110226&quot;]I was pawing through the owls today and pulled out this interesting imitative owl that I purchased from a dealer in Prague, Czech Republic, about 4 or 5 years ago.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is clearly an imitative owl.&nbsp; I think the Athens Mint, even on one of its worst days, would have produced a much more refined coin. </p><p><br /></p><p>I think this coin originated in the ancient Arabian kingdom of Lihyan, probably some time in the 4th to early 3rd century BC.&nbsp; The style, I think, is suggestive of this origin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s a little background on the Lihyanite Kingdom, images and extracts courtesy Wikipedia.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is a link:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lihyan" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lihyan" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lihyan</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Occupying a large portion of Northwest Arabia, bordering the Red Sea, the Lihyanite Kingdom (7th century to 24 BC) was both powerful and prosperous, benefiting from the spice trade. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1269477[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><i>&quot;Lihyan (Arabic: لحيان‎, Liḥyān; Greek: Lechienoi),[1] also called Dadān or Dedan (Hebrew: דְּדָן‎, Dəḏān), was a powerful and highly organized ancient Arab kingdom that played a vital cultural and economic role in the north-western region of the Arabian Peninsula and used Dadanitic language.[2] The Lihyanites ruled over large domain from Yathrib in the south and parts of the Levant in the north.[3] In antiquity, the Gulf of Aqaba used to be called Gulf of Lihyan. A testimony to the extensive influence that Lihyan acquired.[4] The term &quot;Dedanite&quot; usually describes the earlier phase of the history of this kingdom since their capital name was Dedan, which is now called AlUla oasis located in northwestern Arabia, some 110 km southwest of Teima, both cities located in modern-day Saudi Arabia, while the term &quot;Lihyanite&quot; describes the later phase. Dadan in its early phase was &quot;one of the most important caravan centers in northern Arabia&quot;.[5] It is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.[5] The Lihyanites later became the enemies of the Nabataeans. The Romans invaded the Nabataeans and acquired their kingdom in 106 AD. This encouraged the Lihyanites to establish an independent kingdom to manage their country. This was headed by the King Han&#039;as, one of the former royal family, which governed Al-Hijr before the Nabataean invasion.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>The Arab genealogies consider the Banu Lihyan to be Ishmaelites, Arabs descended from Ishmael, although in Jewish tradition they are thought to be descended directly from Abraham through his second wife Keturah (rather than from Ishmael).[6] The descendants of Lihyan founded the Arab kingdom of Lihyan and at present live in the desert between Mecca and Jeddah.&quot;</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>The Lihyanite Kingdom also produced remarkable buildings, very similar to those of the ancient kingdom of Petra, in Jordan.&nbsp; This is a Lihyanite temple.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1269484[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>As well as unique art:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1269487[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The Lihyanite Kingdom produced imitations of the Athenian owls that are both idiosyncratic and very appealing in their own way.</p><p><br /></p><p>This coin came with no documentation regarding origin, which is typical, but I do think that it was produced in Lihyan and modeled along the lines of the 4th century BC intermediate owls of Athens.</p><p><br /></p><p>The oblong flan has a crude depiction of Athena, facing right.&nbsp; The portrait has been flattened somewhat by the test cut on the reverse.</p><p><br /></p><p>The reverse an owl with course feathers leaning right.&nbsp; To its left is the ethnic AOE, with the E rotated.&nbsp; To the right is the crescent moon and olive sprig. </p><p><br /></p><p>This coin weighs 16.7 grams</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1269491[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Clearly, the die engraver turned around the reverse design, as well as producing a very crude obverse.&nbsp; This trend towards greater &quot;abstractness&quot; continues with the owls proceeding forward, as shown with the following coin, made much later.</p><p><br /></p><p>AE tetradrachm, circa second through first centuries BC</p><p><br /></p><p>7.4 grams</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1269526[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This area of Lihyan imitative owls is an evolving one, with new discoveries coming to the market as hoards and individual coins are discovered.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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