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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 15941, member: 57463&quot;]We know that someone can be objectively &quot;plain&quot; but come across as &quot;good looking&quot; by virtue of personal charm: how you appear to others depends on how you feel about yourself.&nbsp; I see that in the Athenian Owl.&nbsp; The coin has little to commend it, but it stands on its own, I believe, because it embodies or concretizes the Athenian&#039;s view of themselves.&nbsp; The Corinthian silver staters also have this quality. The goddess (Athena or Aphrodite, take your pick) is static, but the Pegasus displays &quot;life&quot; with full curves of motion.&nbsp; Similarly, the Alexander gold staters have a static goddess but a compelliing Nike on the other side.&nbsp; That image, however, comes to us across centuries strewn with cultural baggage: she is a winged Angel bearing a Cross.&nbsp; It is hard to separate chickens and eggs when you think about the imagery and how we perceive it.</p><p><br /></p><p>On the other hand, the coins of Magna Graecia -- Sicily and Southern Italy -- as a large (and largely unrelated) group display a cultural blossom and flourish that we seem not to appreciate.&nbsp; We have no &quot;great&quot; philosophers or &quot;great&quot; conquerors on whom to pin a cultural identity.&nbsp; (If not for Alexander, the Nikes would be just pretty coins.&nbsp; If not for Themistocles and Pericles and the gang, Owls would be low on the list of must-have coins.)&nbsp; However, the coins the Greek towns in the west -- Neopolis, Leontine, you name it -- tend to be excellent art, compelling, informative, well designed and well struck.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>For the collector who wants &quot;an ancient&quot;, shopping the agoras of Magna Graecia is a good recommendation.</p><p><br /></p><p>Michael</p><p>&quot;Sicilian&quot;[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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