Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cmezner, post: 3203269, member: 87809&quot;]Just sharing what I have foud: regarding test cuts I read that: &quot;Test cuts and countermarks demonstrates a complex system of applying test cuts and countermarks. The cuts typically appearing at the back or top of the head on the obverse and the countermark on the cheek, chin, or neck area. The combination of the two and the fact that the cuts rarely run over the countermark may suggest a two-step process in testing the coinage. While we may not fully understand the significance of this process, “What we do know is that the cuts and countermarks were part of a sophisticated and controlled process and not just the reduction of these coins into bullion by a barbarian people.” Test cuts, whether innocently applied or as a mocking gesture toward the success of the Athenian financial superiority of the time, are almost always cut into the head of the owl on the reverse.</p><p>More often than not, banker-marked coins will show more overall wear because of the fact that marked coins circulated far beyond the boundaries of their country-state of issue. Most such markings were the result of authentication and/or re-monetization in other countries, and received their counter-marks there, rather than close to home where they were more readily recognizable and accepted. </p><p>As grades increase to nice extra fine, which is about the best grade on these with only rare exceptions, price/value really depends on several factors such as overall character, strike quality, good metal, centering of strike, whether Athena&#039;s helmet crest is fully visible (rarely the case), whether the design elements of the reverse or owl side are completely on the planchet (the E is almost always slightly off), strike splitting, toning, and so on. Two coins of the same technical grade might be thousands of dollars apart in price just based on variations in the above-mentioned factors. </p><p>Greek coinage, and specifically the little owl, have inspired coin designs for over 2,500 years. One of the most famous examples is the story of how President Theodore Roosevelt carried an Athens Owl Tetradrachm as a pocket piece. His love for the detailed, high relief ancient Greek coin helped him to prevail upon sculptor and fellow Greek coin enthusiast August Saint-Gaudens to design the strikingly beautiful 1907 High Relief Gold Double Eagle.&quot; </p><p><a href="https://www.gretaparker.com/pages/athenian-owl.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.gretaparker.com/pages/athenian-owl.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.gretaparker.com/pages/athenian-owl.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p>These are my owls:</p><p>Classical owl type: Athena has an archaic almond shaped eye, that appears to unnaturally face the viewer.</p><p>Athens, Attica, ca 454-404 BC</p><p>20 x 25 mm, 16.90 g;</p><p>Reference:&nbsp; Kroll 8; SNG Copenhagen 39; Dewing 1591 - 1598; Sear 2526</p><p>[ATTACH=full]829513[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]829514[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Earlier fourth century BC Intermediate Style Owls, also called Late Classical Owls, Hellenistic Owls, or (confusingly) Transitional Pi-Style&nbsp; were issued during the century of Aristotle when Athens continued to flourish intellectually even though its military heyday was over. </p><p>The design is both more refined and coarser. In contrast to the almond-shaped frontal eye of Classical and Archaic Owls, the eye on Athena finally appears realistically in profile, triangular in shape, catching up aesthetically with other classical Greek coinage. But Athena&#039;s hair and, except with some of the earliest of these, the owl&#039;s feathers are rendered with less detail. Many sources indicate that Intermediate Style Owls were minted from c. 393 to 200 BC, though it&#039;s likely that their minting continued into the early second century BC. </p><p>Differentiating between Bingen&#039;s pi-style types can be difficult because they are not very dissimilar and because the ornament is often partially off the flan. There are also examples that are hard to categorize even when the floral ornament is clear.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]829523[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>20 x 25 mm; 17.17 g;</p><p>Athens, Attica, late 4th or early 3rd century after 393 BC</p><p>Reference: SNG Copenhagen 63; Kroll 15; SNG Delepierre 1469-1472;Sear 2537</p><p>[ATTACH=full]829528[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]829527[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in