I've been eyeing a few of these for a while and am seriously considering purchasing one. I'm guessing I'll end up spending somewhere in the neighborhood of $800-1200, because that's about where the coins start to look attractive to me. What I'm looking for are: No cuts. Most of the reverse design on flan (owl, most of the olive sprig, A TH and at least most of E) but don't care about the outlines of the incuse square itself. Entire face of Athena on flan, preferably with a little room in front of her nose. I'm willing to sacrifice the crest, neck line, and maybe a little helmet if necessary here. Wear: VF-ish. I want to be able to see the details. Decent to fine style. Does this sound like a fairly realistic expectation for the price range?
Well, here are 3000 examples ... https://www.cngcoins.com/Search.aspx?PAGE_NUM=&PAGE=1&TABS_TYPE=2&CONTAINER_TYPE_ID=1&IS_ADVANCED=1&ITEM_DESC=attica athens owl&ITEM_IS_SOLD=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_1=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_3=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_2=1
Sadly, my one and only example (so far) doesn't seem to have many of your "wants" => ummm, it has the entire face of Athena, but that's pretty much it, eh? ... oh well, this was one of my first ancient buys, so it has a dear place in my heart (it was also the very first coin that I sent to David Sear's ranch for authentication) ... cha-ching!! (winna)
I'd say that's actually pretty close to what I'm expecting, minus the test cuts. Ideally, I'd like a touch less wear and a little more of the E on flan, but this is a pretty good reference. I came real close to pulling the trigger on this one at $750 but someone snagged it out from under me: It's about 90% of what I want for 80% of the budget, and has good eye appeal.
I don't see why you'd have trouble checking off your boxes with that budget. These are common enough that you can afford to take your time waiting for just right one. This one went for about $660 including fees in an auction last month. https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=308666
Yes, that would have been perfect had I known about it. I would have totally jumped on that one at $660 had I known about it. Do these coins not see a lot of bidding action at CNG because they're so common or something? I don't pay a lot of attention to CNG because they seem to have mostly super high end stuff.
CNG has e-auctions every fortnight and they have much more than just super high end stuff. They typically also have at least a couple of owls in each auction. It's a popular coin, so there'll always be competition. Some patience will help you score a better deal.
Excellent. Sounds like I have to check there at least every couple weeks. I'm all about waiting for the right coin. There are very few coins I have had an opportunity to buy that are "once in a lifetime" coins. I can think of two, and I own one of them.
Shove Athena over 3-4mm and get her nose on flan, and that would be absolutely perfect. That's about the amount of detail/wear I'm looking for, and your coin has a phenomenal reverse!
Paul, create a free account at Numisbids. With that auction aggregator you can make a "Want List". Whenever there are upcoming coins matching your criteria, you'll get an email. I've noticed those notifications aren't sent immediately after the auction is published, but they do arrive in plenty of time to bid. You can also make "Watch" lists for coins you like in upcoming auctions, and you can even make notes about them. Two days before the auction closes, Numisbids sends an email reminder and it has thumbnails of each of your watched coins for that auction. I find this very helpful. Sixbid is another auction aggregator. Almost every auction house on Numisbids is also on Sixbid, and vice versa, but because of the few differences I generally browse both. I don't think Sixbid has a Want List feature but they do have Watch List capabilities similar to Numisbids. You'll need to keep the search terms general for these two aggregators. "Athens tetradrachm". Most of the hits won't tick all of your checkboxes (tip of nose on flan, etc), but at least you won't miss seeing the upcoming possibilities. You can even submit your bids through those auction aggregators if you wish. I've tried that a few times and prefer to bid directly with the auction house. Once, even though I submitted my bids before the cutoff, the bids weren't registered with the auction house (probably the auction houses's dropped ball, not the aggregator). I would have won three of the coins for under my max On both Numisbids and Sixbid, with some of the listed e-auctions you don't have the ability to put them on your watch list because clicking on that auction takes you straight to the auction houses' sites. Often the individual auction house has Watch List and Want List capability. CNG also has Want List capability and of course theirs is more sophisticated, allowing greater specificity. It can be found under User Services (Automated Want List Requests). I have oodles of coins on my CNG list. It is particularly handy for infrequently seen coins, which I often forget to search for. Good luck in your quest, and be patient. Athens tets are plentiful. Eventually you'll find what you want, hopefully at a price you like.
Full obverse strikes are horribly rare. The coin there is a supreme example of strike rarity. I don't know if its worth that kind of money, but definitely WAY more than average. OP, I would generally agree with your requirements. You want the helmet and full face on the obverse, and the owl and AOE on the reverse. That is what most shoot for, and then simply pick a pleasing example to you in your price range.
It should be noted that the above example is a transitional piece between Archaic and Classical; circa 467-465 BC. In comparable conditions, they demand a much higher price as compared to Classical examples.
The example below sold for 1100 USD during CNG's printed auction at the beginning of this year. It appears to have all the devices you're looking for, but will put you just a little bit over your $1200 limit w/ a buyer's fee. The 2nd example below sold for 1000 USD during CNG's E-Auction in November of last year. Which would put you under your limit with their 15% E-Auction buyer's fee. It has great metal and most devices. I am a big fan of the elongated flan. I was outbid by less than 5%; pretty disappointing. Your wants are realistic; just follow all the auctions that occur on a weekly basis and be aware of that specific Auction House's Buyer's fees, international fees, international credit/bank transfer fees and shipping charges.
I checked out CNG, and they do, indeed, have a nice selection. Currently there are 6 owl tets up for auction: one new style (IMO a rather underwhelming coin) one Philistine imitation which, while very numismatically interesting, isn't really what I'm after one with an incredible reverse, but missing the entire nose and part of the chin a couple that are either lacking in eye appeal or the style doesn't appeal to me and one or two possibilities. I will definitely be watching CNG in the coming weeks.
