Athenian Owl NEWP

It just seems to be part of human nature to try to "improve" things, such as cleaning coins. Some cleaning is absolutely necessary, such as hoard coins with layers of dirt and encrustation. It's really a matter of degree and more often than not hoard coins are cleaned excessively, especially by people with little or no experience.

Also bright well struck owls, especially those with most of all of the crest showing on the obverse, have a strong appeal for collectors who are seeking an owl as it might have appeared from the mint 2,500 years ago. Those are the coins one sees slabbed or raw that fetch sometimes incredibly high hammer prices, given the population.

I don't know who cleaned the owls from that gargantuan hoard that came out of Turkey a few years ago, but I must say whoever it was did a pretty decent job. Owls from the numerous other hoards, large and small, as well as individual finds are more prone to being cleaned improperly, but, every now and then a more or less original surface owl does show up.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

On my wish list. Beautiful coin.

 

I recently acquired my first Owl.. won't win any beauty pageants, but I am enthralled!

 

Ah yes, it is easy to get hooked on Athena, the eternal goddess!

 

Very nice specimen !

One day I found an affordable classic owl :


but the palmette on Athena's helmet has a curious shape, it may be an imitation.

 

Thanks for the comments everybody!

 

Nice hooter! Pro tip, if you ever want to turn that surface 4 into a 5, a quick bath (in glass beaker) in dilute sulfuric acid will clean that stuff off without harming the mint luster or surface

 

Looks really nice...I've bid on a few but never landed one. I remember one I wish I had bid higher on...maybe someday.

 

Here's my owl which is iconic for me as I always wanted one and it is my only Greek Coin. I bagged this at a reasonable price 2 years ago at Dix Noonan Webb. I spent 3 years "stalking" one of these but usually the hammer price was beyond what I wanted to pay. My follow up quest has been a Quadrigatus. If I could afford anything I viewed, the hunt and acquisition would not be so much fun. I was looking for "feathers" Owl probably because I had a concurrent dalliance with Morgan Dollars for a while until I realised the folly of my ways, but the Owls with test cuts fascinate me too. I can really visualise someone with such a hunk of silver saying "can this be real?"

It is very satisfying to me to purchase something that I consider a fair representation without flinching at the final price.

Mind you, the starting price and some of the hammer prices, on what I consider readily available coins, at recent Swiss and German auctions are beyond belief. Money Laundering comes to mind. I know this is an off thread comment and it has been raised on other threads so I'll stop there.
The massive hoard of Owls I read about certainly does not reflect in the price of them and I guess their popularity keeps the price buoyant.
I like your coin @asheland but what's not to like about any of them?

 

Arrived today!

 

Indeed it's a pleasant backround and, this particular coin looks good in direct sunlight!