Only the famous owl on reverse of this Tiny silver coin pushed me to buy it. It seemed reminiscent of the ancient Greek tetradrachm that has Athena on the obverse. Here the crested person or goddess differs a little from Athena. The coin weighs only 1.88 g. Please post your informative comments.
The style and fabric of this coin does not seem familiar to me. The weight would make it a triobol or hemidrachm (6 obols = 1 drachm) but I really doubt that it is ancient. Athenian owls come in a variety of sizes from 1/8 obol to ten drachms. They were made over many years in a variety of styles. The standard style for the hemidrachm has a facing owl rather than the pose used on the tetradrachm, drachm, obol and hemiobol. If your coin is ancient, it is not from Athens, in my opinion, and not a barbarous style I have seen. Where did you buy the coin? I hope it was a trusted dealer who knows more than I do. My hemidrachm: A hemiobol 0.35g:
I once posted an ancient owl tetradrachm which was not struck in Athens.It turned to be real or ancient and considered as a contemporary imitation. I bought this coin together with another Parthian silver one, from the same dealer. I think it's a drachm but I can't identify the ruler. It weighs 3.39 g. Here it is.
I appreciate @dougsmit questioning the legitimacy of this piece - it appears suspect to me also. I notice the features of the mouth and nose and other facial details like the eyes just seem off. Then you get to the reverse, the owl has an appearance of an unnatural "bug eye" feature that calls the authenticity into question. Admittedly I am much more familiar with the drachms and multiples there of rather than the fractional coins - but I would want a lot more research on this piece before committing to it.
At first I thought it was anime. Like Doug said it could be a Hemidrachm, but I am also unaware of the style. It is suspicious.
My Silver Owls with Athena are all TETS. However, I do have a few AE / Bronze Owls with Athena: Sicily Kamarina AE 15mm 3.4g 420-405 BCE Athena Owl Lizard 3 dots Sear Gk 1063 Ex: @Valentinian Sicily Kalakte AE unit 2nd C BCE Head Athena in Helmet - Owl rev Obv-Rev RARE Ex: @John Anthony Athens 224-198 BC AE 12 Athena 2 Facing Owls RARE Agora 71
