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Why are there so many Athenian tetradrachms?
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<p>[QUOTE="Terence Cheesman, post: 8090724, member: 86498"]The Athenian Owl was minted in truly staggering numbers. At the beginning of the Peloponnesian War it is estimated that Athens had a reserve of something like 9700 Talents of coined silver. This would represent something like 14,550,000 Athenian Owls. However the large number of Owls being offered on the market of late is the result of at least one large hoard of these coins that hit the market some years ago. I believe that there might be a second hoard out there as the initial hoard offered some Starr group IV and V tetradrachms with the bulk of the coins being the Mass coinage Flament I's and II's. However of late I have been seeing a larger number of Flament III's. This initial hoard has been numbered in the 10's of thousands with perhaps as many as 30,000 coins. However there is no accurate record of the hoard nor of its contents. Naturally I bought the vast majority of my owls before the hoard surfaced this being one of them</p><p>Athens Ar tetradrachm circa 454 BC Obv. Helmeted head of Athena right. Rv. Owl standing left head facing Flament Group 1a 17.41 grms 23 mm Photo by W. Hansen[ATTACH=full]1406104[/ATTACH]This coin is a fairly early example of the mass coinage series.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Terence Cheesman, post: 8090724, member: 86498"]The Athenian Owl was minted in truly staggering numbers. At the beginning of the Peloponnesian War it is estimated that Athens had a reserve of something like 9700 Talents of coined silver. This would represent something like 14,550,000 Athenian Owls. However the large number of Owls being offered on the market of late is the result of at least one large hoard of these coins that hit the market some years ago. I believe that there might be a second hoard out there as the initial hoard offered some Starr group IV and V tetradrachms with the bulk of the coins being the Mass coinage Flament I's and II's. However of late I have been seeing a larger number of Flament III's. This initial hoard has been numbered in the 10's of thousands with perhaps as many as 30,000 coins. However there is no accurate record of the hoard nor of its contents. Naturally I bought the vast majority of my owls before the hoard surfaced this being one of them Athens Ar tetradrachm circa 454 BC Obv. Helmeted head of Athena right. Rv. Owl standing left head facing Flament Group 1a 17.41 grms 23 mm Photo by W. Hansen[ATTACH=full]1406104[/ATTACH]This coin is a fairly early example of the mass coinage series.[/QUOTE]
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