An Owl for Anka
Reid Goldsborough
little contribution to substance. I'm going to have to show off a bit,
but unapologetically, and unavoidably. This could also be educational,
and fun. Or not.
OK, Anka, and anybody else who'd like to respond. I know you collect
Owls, or have at least one. I know others collect them too, have
studied them, or have a more casual interest. Up for a challenge? I
promise to be nice.
Here's an Owl, recently acquired, weighing 12.98g and measuring 22mm
in diameter:
http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl1.jpg
Can you further identify it? What's interesting, or uninteresting,
about it?
No problem if you don't feel up to responding or respond with sarcasm
or abstruseness, in English or any other language. Well, my feelings
might be hurt a little, but I probably deserve it. It could be
interesting to get something going here about ancient coins to show
the uninitiated what the excitement is all about. If this works, I'll
do the same with another.
--
Consumer: http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Connoisseur: http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Counterfeit: http://rg.ancients.info/bogos
Matthew
> Things are a mess around here, in a funny kind of way. Here's my own
> little contribution to substance. I'm going to have to show off a bit,
> but unapologetically, and unavoidably. This could also be educational,
> and fun. Or not.
>
> OK, Anka, and anybody else who'd like to respond. I know you collect
> Owls, or have at least one. I know others collect them too, have
> studied them, or have a more casual interest. Up for a challenge? I
> promise to be nice.
>
> Here's an Owl, recently acquired, weighing 12.98g and measuring 22mm
> in diameter:
>
> http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl1.jpg
>
> Can you further identify it? What's interesting, or uninteresting,
> about it?
>
> No problem if you don't feel up to responding or respond with sarcasm
> or abstruseness, in English or any other language. Well, my feelings
> might be hurt a little, but I probably deserve it. It could be
> interesting to get something going here about ancient coins to show
> the uninitiated what the excitement is all about. If this works, I'll
> do the same with another.
SNG Cop 31ff. Classical owl. It seems a couple grams light, but I can't
really see anything that jumps out at me. I'm stumped on the "interesting"
characteristic. Hmm....
Bob
>
> - Show quoted text -
It's a fouree, of course. These are usually ascribed to the emergency
issue mentioned in Aristophanes' play The Frogs, but they could be
private forgeries too. It is because of the danger of plated coins
like these that coins were frequently tested by chopping them with a
chisel.
Matthew
> On Mar 11, 11:16?pm, "Matthew" <s...@nowhere.org> wrote:
>> Reid Goldsborough wrote:
>>> Things are a mess around here, in a funny kind of way. Here's my own
>>> little contribution to substance. I'm going to have to show off a
>>> bit, but unapologetically, and unavoidably. This could also be
>>> educational, and fun. Or not.
>>
>>> OK, Anka, and anybody else who'd like to respond. I know you collect
>>> Owls, or have at least one. I know others collect them too, have
>>> studied them, or have a more casual interest. Up for a challenge? I
>>> promise to be nice.
>>
>>> Here's an Owl, recently acquired, weighing 12.98g and measuring 22mm
>>> in diameter:
>>
>>> http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl1.jpg
>>
>>> Can you further identify it? What's interesting, or uninteresting,
>>> about it?
>>
>>> No problem if you don't feel up to responding or respond with
>>> sarcasm or abstruseness, in English or any other language. Well, my
>>> feelings might be hurt a little, but I probably deserve it. It
>>> could be interesting to get something going here about ancient
>>> coins to show the uninitiated what the excitement is all about. If
>>> this works, I'll do the same with another.
>>
>> can't really see anything that jumps out at me. ?I'm stumped on the
>> "interesting" characteristic. ?Hmm....- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
>
> It's a fouree, of course. These are usually ascribed to the emergency
> issue mentioned in Aristophanes' play The Frogs, but they could be
> private forgeries too. It is because of the danger of plated coins
> like these that coins were frequently tested by chopping them with a
> chisel.
Is it because of the rust-colored areas of damage that it's a fouree? How
can you tell that is not dirt or other staining on such a worn coin?
ank...@aol.com
wrote:
Please refer to The Celator, Vol. 19, No. 10, October 2005; "Copper
Owls: The Emergency Coinage of Athens 406 BC" by Michael E. Marotta
Nyuk nyuk nyuk....
~Anka
ank...@aol.com
As long as we're showing of...
http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/saylesandlavender/store/viewitem.asp?idProduct=7126
Dum dee dum dum.....
~Anka
note.boy
"Reid Goldsborough" <reidgold...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:486ed4d1-bb18-4a6e...@j8g2000yql.googlegroups.com...
ank...@aol.com
> Dare I mention the c word? �Billy
>
>
> - Show quoted text -
You better mean "counterfeit," buddy. ;-)
~Anka
Reid Goldsborough
Everybody who has responded thus far is correct, more or less. This
coin is, or purports to be, a classical Athenian Owl issued c. 449-413
BC that can be attributed among other ways as SNG Cop 31ff. However,
the rust- or brown-colored areas on the coin's surfaces indicate the
coin isn't as it purports to be, that it instead is a fourree, or
plated coin, in this case silver-plated copper. The light weight is
another diagnostic, with authentic Owls typically weighing between
16.0 and the official weight of 17.2 grams.
Here's one interesting part. Classical Owls, having this design, are
one of the few coin types in history in which there were official
plated specimens, meaning this coin isn't *necessarily* an ancient
counterfeit. These official plated Owls are typically termed Emergency
Issue Owls. They were issued at the end of the Peloponnesian War,
which Athens was losing to Sparta, as revealed in Aristophanes' c. 405
BC play The Frogs and by numismatic evidence. Anka points to a 2005
Celator article about these, but this article's thesis is that the
only coins that should be called Emergency Issue Owls are those that
can be linked to just one hoard, the Eleusis/Piraeus Hoard of 1902.
This doesn't make sense numismatically or logically -- there have been
many other hoards uncovered before and since then that included
Emergency Issue Owls -- and this thesis has been ignored.
On the other hand, too many plated Owls are called Emergency Issues,
with some dealers trying to sell up their coins in this way. The
majority of plated Owls in all probability are simply ancient
counterfeits, and not as desirable, rather than official coins issued
in desperation by one of history's greatest cities and having appeal
for this reason. How experts distinguish unofficial ancient
counterfeit Owls and official Emergency Issue Owls, right now, is
through stylistic analysis. Die analysis would be a more accurate
method, but as yet no one has attempted this. Still, stylistic
analysis is on fairly firm ground here. The style of classical Owls
evolved during the half century of so in which they were issued,
though the stylistic variation wasn't nearly as great as the jump from
those Owls that preceded them as well as those Owls that followed
them. J.N. Svoronos in his posthumously published 1924 book Corpus of
the Ancient Coins of Athens (translated in English in 1975) does a
good job of illustrating Emergency Issue Owls and placing them within
the context of other late classical Owls.
The style of my coin indicates it's not an official Emergency Issue
silver-plated copper Owl but an unofficial counterfeit. Athena's eye
is symmetrical and closed at the right corner in the style of early
classical Owls, not asymmetrical and open in the style of late
classical Owls that the Emergency Issues were part of. Also, Athena's
nose is overlarge and totally un-Athenian, styled much like the noses
on many tribal or "barbarous" ancient coins that copied classical
designs.
With this particular piece, and this is another interesting part, the
dealer didn't try to sell up the coin by calling it an Emergency Issue
but recognized it for what it is, simply an ancient counterfeit. The
seller was Joe Sermarini of FORVM Ancient Coins (http://
forumancientcoins.com), which also hosts the most active online
discussion of ancient coins on the Internet. I should point out that I
have no financial interest in what he does -- just giving credit where
credit is due.
Other interesting parts: Unlike many Owl fourrees, this one hasn't
been test cut, which was a commonly used method in ancient times to
uncover silver-plated coins of this and other types by taking a chisel
or other blade to the surfaces to reveal the interior. In this case
the interior has been revealed only over the course of many centuries
of the coin being buried underground, with corrosion eroding the
silver plating in parts. The brown is the underlying copper. The green
is the intermediate area separating the copper interior from the
silver plating, sometimes called the eutectic layer. Metallurgical
analyses on other fourrees indicates that this layer consists of 72
percent silver and 28 percent bronze. It's unclear whether the
eutectic layer was a copper-silver solder applied to help bond the
silver plating to the copper core or was formed when the silver-plated
planchet was heated, partially melting and interdiffusing the silver
and copper.
Not all fourrees display silver, brown, and green areas, though among
people who collect fourrees those that do are deemed more attractive
and desirable. Some fourrees reveal only a brown interior. Some have
plating that's entirely intact and are revealed for what they are
through their low weight and sometimes as well by stylistic anomalies.
And some have plating that's entirely corroded away.
Fourrees have their own history and consequence and are valued for
this by historians, numismatists, and the marketplace. It's not known
whether Owl fourrees were used by Athens' enemies as weapons of war,
but peoples and countries throughout history have counterfeited the
coins and paper money of their enemies during wartime. The same
happens today. What has also happened throughout history is that coins
have been faked by common criminals trying to make an obol, or a buck.
With Owls, as has been pointed out, the widespread existence of
ancient Owl fourree counterfeits, along with official plated Emergency
Issues Owls, is the reason so many good-metal Owls were test cut in
ancient times and why we see so many test-cut Owls in the numismatic
marketplace today.
Reid Goldsborough
> Is it because of the rust-colored areas of damage that it's a fouree? How
> can you tell that is not dirt or other staining on such a worn coin?
See how the rust- and green-colored areas appears dug out, in a rut or
depression? That indicates they're lower than the silver surface of
the coin, a result of corrosion that removed the silver above them. If
this was dirt or corrosion, it would appear raised, higher than the
silver surface.
Mike Marotta
look to empirical evidence and logical constructs: you need facts and
explanations for them and those theories must remain tested by new
facts.
On Mar 12, 8:18 pm, Reid Goldsborough <reidgoldsboro...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
> Another long post...
> Here's one interesting part. Classical Owls, having this design, are
> one of the few coin types in history in which there were official
> plated specimens ...
The fact is that there were no officially-plated coins, ever. It has
happened that those in poliitcal power resort to "counterfeiting their
own currency." (Chiang kai-Shek did this, for instance.) However, it
has not been established that this was done in ancient times. (For
Roman coins, consider Michael H. Crawford's essay "Plated Coins--False
Coins" in Numismatic Circular, 1968.)
As I explained in my Celator article, the likely explanation for the
Eleusis Hoard is that is was created by radicals (democrats) who
temporarily held the Mint during a time of upheaval in Athens. These
coins have been die linked by their obvious style to the Emergency
Issue -Gold- Coins, an earlier stop-gap. Someone used the gold coin
dies to make these fakes. But they were always fakes, never anything
else but fakes and never the intentional emission of the
constitutional government of Athens.
Mr. Reid Goldsborough has asked for help translating numismatic works
in French. (He wants others to do the work for him, not help him with
his French.) In my Celator article, I examine the exact Classical
Greek text of two plays "The Frogs" and "The Council of Women." My
language skills are pretty good. Nothing in the puns, allusions,
sleights or tropes makes any hint that the Emergency Issue coins were
plated silver.
Rather, having these plated fakes in abundance, many people read into
the plays what they need to find in order to explain the plated fakes.
The Celator article quotes another Celator writer, Jim Hauck, who
provided the "Ask the Experts" column. Jim Hauck pointed out that
Athens took great care to design coins that were different from each
other. The gold "Owl" emergency coins -- and therefore the Eleusis
coins of the radical democrats -- have no Crescent Moon but have an
Extra Sprig at the foot of the Owl. Little fractional coins of Athens
show these kinds of differences to make them readily clear from each
other.
> only coins that should be called Emergency Issue Owls are those that
> can be linked to just one hoard, the Eleusis/Piraeus Hoard of 1902.
> This doesn't make sense numismatically or logically -- there have been
> many other hoards uncovered before and since then that included
> Emergency Issue Owls -- and this thesis has been ignored.
That is circular reasoning. How would you determine in the first
place whether the hoard was of Emergency issues? The Eleusis Hoard
has a body of evidence behind it: the style of the coins; placement
in time and locale; the number of coins in the find. It makes perfect
sense on numismatic evidence and political logic. That said, the
Eleusis Hoard is only the best offering for what is at most the
unproved assertion that there were official fake "Emergency Issues."
Mike M.
Michael E. Marotta
Caveat emptor
Reid Goldsborough
> These coins have been die linked by their obvious style to the Emergency
> Issue -Gold- Coins, an earlier stop-gap. Someone used the gold coin
> dies to make these fakes.
You don't even know what the term "die linked" means. A smaller coin
can't be die linked to a larger coin unless the type or design of the
larger coin fills only a part of the flan, which didn't happen with
these coins. As with most Owls, the type was crowded on the flan. Die
linked means a coin has been made with the same obverse or reverse die
as another coin when it was struck. It doesn't mean it has the same
style. Die linking is one of the most fundamental aspects of
numismatic scholarship. You talk about facts, but you're just making
stuff up, again.
Jud
Reid Goldsborough
http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl3.jpg
What is it? Why is it interesting (or not)? I know why it's ugly. <g>
But there's interest, and history, in that ugliness.
This is also a very recent acquisition. There's more uncertainty with
it than the previous Owl I pointed to, in a subtle kind of way.
Anybody care to give it a shot? To try to make this more interesting,
I won't yet disclose the weight and diameter.
ank...@aol.com
wrote:
I'll bite. It looks like an intermediate style owl with two test
cuts, one at the owl's neck and one below Athena's chin. Is the tet a
forgery?
~Anka
Reid Goldsborough
> I'll bite. It looks like an intermediate style owl with two test
> cuts, one at the owl's neck and one below Athena's chin. Is the tet a
> forgery?
>
> ~Anka
Anybody else want to take a shot at identifying this and mentioning
anything noteworthy about it ... aside from its ugliness <g>:
http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl3.jpg
Dik T. Winter
> :::::Pulling up a chair to watch the show
Take also your crisps and sixpack.
--
dik t. winter, cwi, science park 123, 1098 xg amsterdam, nederland, +31205924131
home: bovenover 215, 1025 jn amsterdam, nederland; http://www.cwi.nl/~dik/
Ian
the obverse appears to be double struck.
Reid Goldsborough
http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl3.jpg
Anka and Ian are both correct. It is an Intermediate Style Owl minted
in Athens c. 350-294 BC. This makes it about 23 centuries old. That’s
old. Older that me, and that makes me feel good. It’s an authentic
coin, not a counterfeit, same as with most of the coins in my little
collection, despite my continuing interest in ancient and modern
forgeries, with these attempts to fake history. It can be attributed
among other ways as Sear 2537 (or SG 2537). It’s likely not an earlier
Intermediate Style because there are no remnants of an incuse square
on the reverse.
Interesting stuff: It has in fact been double struck. What at first
glance looks like it might be a curved test cut on the obverse (there
is a straight and fairly unobtrusive test cut on the reverse under the
owl’s head) is actually the curvature of Athena’s chin that has been
widened by the double striking. If you look carefully, you can see two
right eyes, two right nose nostrils, and two mouths.
Despite the use of the term "double struck," what may have happened
with this and similar coins is that the hammer or planchet slipped
during the striking of the coin, causing the double or ghost image,
meaning this didn't necessarily happen with two strikes of the hammer.
What's more, many ancient coins are believed to have been struck with
more than one hammer blow to bring up the details of their high-relief
design. The term "die slippage" is therefore sometimes used instead of
"double struck."
Another interesting tidbit, I think: The coin was sold as having
“hoard patina.” In this case, that’s just a euphemism for “serious
corrosion.” The corrosion has eaten into the metal and appears both in
this photo and on the coin in hand not to be elevated about the coin
surface but to be a part of it. Cleaning it would likely just result
in the loss of detail and a pitted mess underneath. Thus whoever
cleaned this coin stopped where he did.
The corrosion, black, appears to be silver sulfide, the same silver
reactant that produces beautiful multicolored toning on U.S. silver
coins when it’s thin. Over many centuries the sulfide in the right (or
wrong) circumstances continues reacting with the silver until it
results in this, a nice example of the inexorable effect of time.
Despite the corrosion and the reverse test cut, the coin is still full
weight, at 16.99 grams.
part...@yahoo.com
>
> Dum dee dum dum.....
>
> ~Anka
That's a nice portrait of Otacilia Severa (or O-Sev, as she was
referred to in the tabloid press.) About all I can remember of her is
that she has an antoninianus with reverse type of a hippopotamus, the
only appearance (I think) of that animal on Roman coinage. I wonder
why the crescent under the bust? On smaller silver coins of the time,
the crescent under bust was apparently used on female-portrait coins
to distinguish the antoninianus or double denarius from the single
denarius coins (male-portrait coins used a radiate crown), but why
would it be needed on a tetradrachm?
To continue the showing off theme, here's one of my recent
acquisitions:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23911267@N06/3338789200/
Most of Phraates IV's coinage is fairly common, this is one of the
scarcer drachm types, from the Susa mint in southwest Iran. Even
though Susa was the winter capital of the Parthians, they issued few
coins from that mint. I think this portrait is good at capturing the
cruelty that history records in Phraates IV. (Also I should note that
the photo was taken by Chris Hopkins of the parthia.com website. This
explains why it is so much better than most of my coin photography.)
I don't have much to add about Athenian owls, except that I am an
outlier. Even though I've been collecting ancients for 15 years, have
a fairly extensive collection, etc., I have never owned an Owl and
have no plans to do so. They're interesting, sure, but everyone has
to specialize at some point. I will leave the Owls for others to
explore, while if anyone can direct me to a heap of unattributed
Parthian bronzes...
-Robert A. DeRose, Jr.
Reid Goldsborough
> I don't have much to add about Athenian owls, except that I am an
> outlier. Even though I've been collecting ancients for 15 years, have
> a fairly extensive collection, etc., I have never owned an Owl and
> have no plans to do so.
That doesn't sound like a very wise decision.
> They're interesting, sure, but everyone has to specialize at some point.
Agreed. Much pleasure can be had from specializing. I've recently
divested part of my collection in areas I no longer focus on to delve
more deeply in areas I do.
From your neck of the woods, sort of, let me know if you ever come
across a Bakrian Owl that's reasonable.
ank...@aol.com
wrote:
Boy, are you dumb. It's a Bactrian CAMEL. ;-)
~Anka
Reid Goldsborough
> Boy, are you dumb. It's a Bactrian CAMEL. ;-)
I know I'm dumb. But it's not because I have a Bakrian Owl on my want
list. By the way, it's cooler to spell it "Baktrian" -- you should
know this. Also, if you think of it, you should link to one of these
Baktrian Camels, if you have one and aren't just faking it. The reason
I'm dumb is for not buying an Owl sooner that I'm going to show off
later. Not now. So be patient please.
Reid Goldsborough
http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl4.jpg
As with the previous Owls I've pointed to, this is also a recent Owl
acquisition. I've been on an Owl binge. Can't get enough of the tasty
critters.
As with the previous Owl, I'll reveal its weight later. Anybody care
to hazard a guess as to its identification and why it's interesting
(or not)?
ank...@aol.com
wrote:
A very early owl. Archaic. ~500 BC. Gorgeous.
That's funny... I'm on a Zeugitana, Carthage kick.
~Anka
Ian
pre battle of Salamis?
Ian
.......but also equally possibly post 1980. love to see what the edge
looks like :)
part...@yahoo.com
wrote:
> On Mar 15, 3:45 pm, parthi...@yahoo.com wrote:
>> I have never owned an Owl and
> > have no plans to do so.
>
> That doesn't sound like a very wise decision.
Well, I do have several Roman coins depicting Minerva. Does that
count as wise (or at least as acquiring wisdom)?
> From your neck of the woods, sort of, let me know if you ever come
> across a Bakrian Owl that's reasonable.
I will keep my eyes open, but if by "reasonable" you mean "costs less
than a semi-decent used car" I doubt I will find one.
-Robert A. DeRose, Jr.
part...@yahoo.com
> wrote:
> > From your neck of the woods, sort of, let me know if you ever come
> > across a Bakrian Owl that's reasonable.
> Boy, are you dumb. It's a Bactrian CAMEL. ;-)
>
> ~Anka
Which made me realize: All the camel images I can think of on Greek
or Roman coins (mainly through personifications of Arabia) are of the
dromedary or one-hump camel. I don't think I've seen any
representations of Bactrian (two-hump) camels on any ancient Western
art at all, for that matter. I guess the Bactrian camel wasn't nearly
as familiar to ancient (Western) artists as the dromedary?
But those wanting to see a Bactrian camel on ancient coinage are in
luck. The Kushans come through with this coin:
http://www.grifterrec.com/coins/kushan/i_kush_2887_r.jpg
-Robert A. DeRose, Jr.
"Will muse about ancient art for food (or coins)"
ank...@aol.com
With apologies to Ogden Nash:
The one-humped camel's quite a beast!
The two-humped camel's from the East.
And I will bet my tooth enamel
There isn't any three-humped camel.
~Anka
Reid Goldsborough
http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl4.jpg
What can be said about it, with assurance, is "Fake, fake, fake, fake,
fake."
Other things: It's a curious fake. From its photo, it does indeed
appear to be an attractive, and authentic, pre-Salamis archaic Owl, c.
490-482 BC, Sear 1842. In hand, it appears originally engraved rather
than cast and, in the Bulgarian style, pressed rather than hand
struck. It also appears to be silver. It's the correct diameter, but
it's thin and light, weighing only 11.2 grams.
The obvious question is, Why would the forger or forgery workshop who
produced this well-made fake have skimped on something like $2 worth
of silver when making it the correct weight would have made it
"genuinely" deceptive? Maybe it was a trial piece, put out by one of
the seven Bulgarian forgery workshops that Ilya Prokopov has
documented in his books on ancient coin forgery emanating out of
Bulgaria.
I haven't seen this fake documented anywhere. Presumably pieces using
the same die have been put out of the correct weight. Caveat emptor as
always, in this case if you're in the market for a $5,000 ancient coin
from the time that the West's embryonic experimentation with democracy
and individual rights was saved from destruction by Persian tyranny.
Reid Goldsborough
piece I'd have no problem mouthing off about:
http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl6.jpg
So, anybody care to offer an opinion about what it is? Why is it
interesting, or not? Authentic, or not? Weight and diameter to follow.
PC
"Reid Goldsborough" <reidgold...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:663f7bb5-ae34-4c0e...@g38g2000yqd.googlegroups.com...
> Here's yet another Owl for Anka, another recent acquisition, another
> piece I'd have no problem mouthing off about:
>
> http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl6.jpg
>
> So, anybody care to offer an opinion about what it is?
A coin.
> Why is it
> interesting, or not?
Not interesting because it looks like a turd. But that's just me.
> Authentic, or not? Weight and diameter to follow.
As if someone would try and fake that?
Reid Goldsborough
http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl6.jpg
It's ancient, it's authentic, but it's not official. It's a copy, an
ancient copy, struck in all likelihood by the Sabeans of South Arabia,
from Saba, which today is part of Yemen. Saba is best known from the
Old Testament, where it's called Sheba, which is the English
equivalent of Sh'va and is the transliteration of the Hebrew word for
Saba.
The story of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba appears not only in
the Bible but is also cited by various ancient Assyrian, Greek, and
Roman writers. Hearing of the great Jewish king's wisdom, the queen
from the South traveled north, probably around 950-930 BC, to test the
king with "hard questions." The meeting was a success, and the two
nations began trading heavily with one another. The Sabeans also
traded heavily with the Greeks, hence their copying the famous
Athenian Owl tetradrachms some 700 years later. Earlier, perhaps
around 4000 BC, Yemen is thought to be where the Semitic people
originated, and much earlier, around 110,000 years ago, the locale
that mankind reached first when migrating out of Africa
This imitative Owl is among the first South Arabian coins. As with
many regions at the time, the first coins were closely patterned after
the known and widely used Owls that originated in Athens, among the
leading trading, military, and cultural powers of the day, though
Athens' peak power preceded the issuance of this coin.
This coin was issued in the 4th or 3rd century BC and can be
attributed as Munro-Hay Type 1.0.4 and as Huth 1. It's full weight at
16.8g and appears to be made of good silver. It closely copies
official Athenian Intermediate Owls, though Athena's helmet, hair, and
eye are styled more simply, Athena's nose is overlarge, the owl is
squatter, and the "ATHE" ethnic is more crudely styled than on
official Athenian issues. A tiny coarsely engraved A countermark
appears on this specimen to right of owl's left leg. The porosity is
much more evident in the photo than on the coin in hand, but I'm a
little biased here. <g>
Ian
Neat. The coin is certainly no `turd' to my eye, and i'd be more than
happy to have one of these (especially such a good example) in my
collection, but as in all cases.....beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Ian
Reid Goldsborough
received ... can't wait. Actually I can, I have to, I have no choice.
Anyway, I'm a little frustrated, Anka. I've provided all these Owls
for you, five now including this latest, and in return all you've
given back is one Roman Provincial tetradrachm illustrating some
woman. I repeat, provincial, as in uncouth, boorish, and countrified.
You can look it up. So, after this, no more Owls for you. Well, at
least for now.
This is my latest pride and joy, 17.05 grams stark naked, sold as VF
but I'd grade it gVF:
http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl7.jpg
Glom on that crest. Amazing, awe-inspiring, breathtaking. Unlike many
full-crest Classical Owls, on this one Athena is still well centered.
Most Owls are missing the crest at the top of Athena's helmet because
the obverse type or device on these coins almost always is too big to
completely fit on the flan, and the crest is almost always what's
missing.
On this one, the crest is all there in all its glory, with the Attic
helmet further adorned with a floral scroll (flowery design) and olive
leaves, the floral scroll in all probability referring to the Greek
victory over the Persians, the olive leaves to Athens' international
olive oil trade, one of the reasons for her prosperity at the time.
On the reverse, the owl symbolizes wisdom, the olive sprig oil, the
crescent moon most likely the Battle of Salamis, which was more
decisive in determining Athens' fate and its historical role as the
fountainhead of democracy and individual rights than the more famous
Battle of Marathon or Battle of Thermopylae.
The owl is also well centered, though the AQE ethnic, which is short
for "Of the Athenians," is weakly struck. Athena has a scratch on her
cheek, though this appears to be accentuated in this photo because of
the lighting. It'll be interesting to see how obvious this and the
other marks are on her cheek appear on the coin in hand. And there are
small digs at Athena's hair, also perhaps accentuated by the lighting,
and in the floral scroll, perhaps softened by the lighting.
We'll see...
Reid Goldsborough
> Neat. The coin is certainly no `turd' to my eye, and i'd be more than
> happy to have one of these (especially such a good example) in my
> collection, but as in all cases.....beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Thanks. I like her.