Full portrait Athens Tetradrachm

I just acquired my second ancient coin! I'm so excited, it's a Christmas present to myself. I have been looking for quite a while for an Athens Tetradrachm. These are easy coins to find, of course, but I really wanted one that shows the entire portrait. Why did they make the design so much bigger than the flan? I don't know but it looks odd to me. Invariably some element of the design is off the flan; either the crest, the 1st leaf, the tip of the visor, the nose, the chin, the necklace, or the hair below the helmet. This is the first one I've seen for sale with all of the design elements visible.

It's got a bit of wear on it which, to me at least, adds character compared to the blast white "mint state" examples that have come on the market recently. Even the flan crack, particularly on the reverse, makes it look more "ancient" to me.

With some help I purchased it from Nomos 19. I probably overpaid, but who cares, it makes me happy. And Happy Holidays to everyone!

 

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Excellent centering, and strike. Very nice example.

 

Wow—nice coin.

 

Congratulations on a wonderful find, and an interesting piece of Human History, @savitale . The more you foray into Ancients, the more fascinating it gets. Enjoy the Journey.

 

Fantastic!!! That may be the most appealing mass emission owl tet I’ve seen!

What a treat!

 

Marvelous example.

 

It is a very nice looking coin with unusually the whole design present. I would think it is in the Flament Group II period. Great purchase.

 

It's an amazing example, congrats.

 

For once the often abused term "full crest" is, shall we say, fully appropriate. You'll look a long time and not find a nicer example. You didn't overpay at all. Congratulations.

Phil Davis

 

Thanks. Do you know where to obtain a copy of this Flament reference? I don’t see it readily available.

 

If this is your second ancient coin, I can't wait to see what your 50th will be. I looked up the price record and agree with Phil that you paid a fair price: there's a reason you had at least one underbidder well over the estimate. Even with this recent hoard, coins as nice as yours are hard to come by. It looks much nicer in your photos than the auction and seems to have a lot of "character". Congratulations!

 

Thanks. That makes me feel better about paying up.

 

Wow, that's about as perfect an Owl as I've seen. Congratulations! It would be a prize in ANY collection and I doubt it's a purchase you'll ever have reason to regret.

 

Just SPLENDID!

 

Excellent in every way !
Q

 

Thanks! But I may not make it that far. My thinking right now is if I buy one nice Ancient Greek coin per year, in 20 years I’ll have a fine collection. But maybe you’re right. Let’s check in again in 2069. ☺️

 

Wonderful coin - really splendid! I'll pass on 2069, because I don't think I will still be around by then

 

Great coin. I was looking for an example like this. I’ve seen two examples, but one was too expensive, and the other sold before I had a chance

This sold for £13000 in comparison



This was sold by APMEX for $1500. NGC Ch AU 5/5 5/5

 

The one that went for 13k£ such a wide flan or is it such a small Athena head either way beautiful. the op of this thread has a great addition well done. I don't always buy tets but when I do I prefer a full crest.
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