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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;robinjojo, post: 4754706, member: 110226&quot;]As phalanx after phalanx of Athenian tetradrachms march across the on-line auction and retail websites, a constant attribute that almost guarantees a premium is the presence of Athena&#039;s helmet&#039;s crest, the more complete, the better.</p><p><br /></p><p>Which raises a question for bidders and buyers: &quot;To crest or not to crest, that is the crestion&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>In terms of overall appeal, any ancient coin that shows all of the design elements should, other things being equal, be deemed more desirable and thus command a higher price.&nbsp; That&#039;s really just common sense.&nbsp; But the question is, to what degree should a full crest command a significant premium?</p><p><br /></p><p>This is an Athenian tetradrachm, mass production (mid or so), from Roma, that has a good portion of the crest present.</p><p><br /></p><p>Note the relatively wide flan used in mid mass production owls (25mm) allowed for more of the crest detail to show on the coin.&nbsp; This was done at the cost of the minor loss of chin and nose.</p><p><br /></p><p>Athens, After 449 BC</p><p>Tetradrachm</p><p>Obverse: Head of Athena right, wearing crested Attic helmet ornamented with three olive leaves above visor and spiral palmette on bowl, round earring with central boss and pearl necklace.</p><p>Reverse: Owl standing to right with head facing, olive sprig and crescent behind, ΑΘΕ before; all within incuse square.</p><p>17.22 grams</p><p>25mm, 2h</p><p><br /></p><p>Near mint state.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1160437[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The flans used to strike archaic, transitional and mass production owl tended to be narrow, sometimes &quot;dumpy&quot; (especially for the archaic owls) and quite irregular in many cases.&nbsp; This limitation almost guarantees that some part of the obverse, sometime reverse, is off the flan.&nbsp; In the case of the above coin, part of the &quot;E&quot; is off the flan on the reverse.</p><p><br /></p><p>The hammer price for this coin was £550.&nbsp; With a 20% buyer&#039;s commission, the total cost (not including postage or currency conversion fees) was £660 or $818, which seems to be the going price for an example such as this.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s a true &quot;full crest&quot; tetradrachm (not mine), which sold at auction for £1,700, not including buyer&#039;s commission.</p><p><br /></p><p>Athens, After 449 BC</p><p>Tetradrachm</p><p>Obverse: Head of Athena right, wearing crested Attic helmet ornamented with three olive leaves above visor and spiral palmette on bowl, round earring with central boss and pearl necklace.</p><p>Reverse: Owl standing to right with head facing, olive sprig and crescent behind, ΑΘΕ before; all within incuse square.</p><p>17.17 grams</p><p>25mm, 1h</p><p><br /></p><p>Near Extremely Fine</p><p><br /></p><p>Coupled with a wide flan, for Athens, is a compact die, which helped in producing a full detail coin.&nbsp; Compared with the first coin, the style is more refined and not nearly as crude.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.romanumismatics.com/catalogue_images/auction/xlarge/3119.4.79_1.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Of course, there are other factors to consider with these coins, other than the presence or lack of crest detail.&nbsp; The above coin, while high grade and showing a lot of design elements, is relatively crude in style compared to earlier tetradrachms.</p><p><br /></p><p>The earlier tetradrachms appear to have been struck on fairly small, narrow flans.&nbsp; While the crest is virtually absent on this example, the die work is finer in style, both in the rendering of Athena and the owl, with more of a high relief, sculptural effect.</p><p><br /></p><p>Athens, 460-454 BC</p><p>Tetradrachm</p><p>Obverse: Head of Athena right, wearing crested Attic helmet decorated with three olive leaves over visor and a spiral palmette on the bowl.</p><p>Reverse: Owl standing right, head facing, with spread tail feathers; olive sprig and crescent behind; all within incuse square.</p><p>Starr Group IV</p><p><br /></p><p>NGC VF</p><p><br /></p><p>Purchased through eBay in 2019.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1160442[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, here&#039;s an early mass production coin, from Roma, with minimal crest detail.</p><p><br /></p><p>Athens, After 449 BC</p><p>Tetradrachm</p><p>Obverse: Head of Athena right, wearing crested Attic helmet ornamented with three olive leaves above visor and spiral palmette on bowl, round earring with central boss and pearl necklace.</p><p>Reverse: Owl standing to right with head facing, olive sprig and crescent behind, ΑΘΕ before; all within incuse square.</p><p>17.16 grams</p><p>24mm, 8h.</p><p><br /></p><p>Good Very Fine</p><p><br /></p><p>Slightly lower relief for both the obverse and reverse with this coin (more with the obverse).&nbsp; Still, it is clear that care was still being taken both with die preparation and striking.&nbsp; The flan is a bit cruder compared with the Starr IV coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1160446[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>So, is the full crest the end all when considering bidding on or buying one of these fascinating and historical coins?&nbsp; Of course not.&nbsp; With so many owls on the market, one should be able to pursue one&#039;s bliss, within, of course, one&#039;s budget.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you have any owls or other coins that you&#039;d like to post, please do so.</p><p><br /></p><p>Thank you.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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