Hello darkside collectors , I don't post in this section too often, but I do lurk. So my first real ancient just came in today, it's a Athens tetradrachm (449-413 BC). The pics are from Forvm, and they are dead on how the coin looks in hand. A big thanks to Forvm, that is a class act organization! And thanks to Stainless for the help. Here's the info that came with the coin: For anyone interested in them, this link has some great of info: Athenian Owls Anyone else have any Owls, if so, post 'em. :thumb:
An excellent coin to start with! Unfortunately, I don't have any to share - I always put off getting an owl. They just seemed so available to me. In fact, I only have two Athenian coins, both tokens from the late 2nd to early 3rd centuries (stupidly rare, of course!) Attica, Athens PB token, 24mm, 7.6g 1st - 3rd century AD Head of Athena r., in Corinthian helmet Boukranion Lang & Crosby, "The Athenian Agora: Weights, Measures, and Tokens" vol. X, p 110, 251
David Vagi of NGC-Ancients wrote a nice series of articles about Ancient Greek coins, including the Athenian Owl. They can be accessed thru NGCcoin.com. http://www.ngccoin.com/ancients/news-articles.aspx or I gathered them here at a non-numismatic site to which I regularly contribute: http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=10415 guy
It is almost unusual but very nice to see someone who decided to make their first ancient an owl who bought a real one. There is nothing like dealing with an honest dealer! My favorite owl is this obol or 1/24th of your coin: In case you wonder why they cut your coin - it was to be sure that yours was not like mine below with a copper core:
Nice coins! What do you think happened to the guy trying to pass off that coin :hammer:. Also, what's more common, originals or contemporary fakes, and generally do the contemporary fakes tend to sell for more or less than authentic pieces?
Very nice ancient!! The owl looks tooo cool and the cuts top the cake! Someday I will buy an ancient too, B.C. and all!!
Ancient plated coins are much more scarce than the real thing but are looked down upon by most collectors to the point that they sell for 1/10 to 1/4 the 'normal' price depending mostly on how ugly they are in terms of core exposure. While there are a few people that specialize in them, more people refuse to have them in their collections so demand is small.
I hit the darkside a while back, should be getting a package from Anthony pretty soon. A lot of Ancients are very cool looking and once you are on the darkside, there really is no turning back. (BUT SOME ANCIENTS ARE STILL JUST DIRT TO ME!) Nice coin Raider.
Here's an intermediate period Athens Tetradrachm (eye-in-profile, irregular flan) that I just got in from another Vcoins dealer. It's not my usual area of ancient-coin focus, but I like to treat myself to the occasional definitive type. And there's something about Athens Owls that makes them the unofficial standard bearer of ancient coin collecting. Now I need a "New Style" owl in the right condition for the right price and I'll have the three major periods of style covered.
I saw that coin and was immediately thrown back to grade school when they made us watch Clash of the Titans. Not the new one, the one with Harry Hamlin. The Athenian owl is too cool.
Welcome to the world of ancient collecting! You'll find it's very addictive, soon you'll find yourself reading everything you can about them and whatnot. There is a massive, vast amount of stuff to learn about them as well...to me it is a lot more complex then modern coins. What I don't know outnumbers what I do know by a roughly 100 to 1 margin, or perhaps a few more 0s are needed! :goofer: I only have 6 in my collection, but if I had the money to make new purchases, I would be adding to that number in a heartbeat!
