Hi All! This is my first time posting. I've been lurking for some time. I started collecting ancients when I was a kid and continued on and of through high school. I got back into it recently after many years a way (for reasons to be discussed in a future post). I've been examining my very eclectic collection and I want your collective advice on a coin that's been troubling me. The attribution I have for it is: Athens, ca. 449-413 BC, AR Obol. (0.7 gr, 9mm), Sear GCV 2540 O: Athena facing right, wearing a plumed helmet. R: Owl standing right, AOE to right, olive-leaf behind. I bought this off of ebay as an athenian obol, but I've always suspected that it was an eastern imitation. In searching through cng, coinarchives, and acsearch, I haven't been able to find a perfect match among either the Athenian coins or the imitative ones. (I also don't have sear so I can't look up the number I have-- and it also isn't in wildwinds). What are the best methods for distinguishing between the stylistically more primitive coins from Athens and the ones produced in Philistia? Here are two from cng (first from Philistia, second from Athens) that look stylistically similar to me: https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=181251 https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=247992 Thanks for your help! And sorry about the terrible iphone photos, I don't have much of a photography set up right now.
Welcome to the forum! I am away from my office so I can't look this up at the moment. I am sure someone can help. What other ancients do you have and what are your collecting interests? John
Thanks John! My interests are a bit eclectic, but the main areas are: small ar greeks, papal silver, paduans, and historical figures (particularly female and openly gay rulers). I'm going to post a best of 2017 thread (I'm waiting on a couple coins to come, still), with more of an introduction to my interests. This is the first ancient I ever bought, when I was about 11 years old:
Imitative! Obols come in styles matching the tets of various periods so you can't say there is just one style but the workmanship on the small coins was just as good as the large so stick figures are imitative. This one has three tail feathers as appropriate for the mid 5th century coins. Good luck finding this style in mint state.
