Did you win anything at the Leu Auction?

[Qcumbor]

On 12/7/2022 at 5:48 AM, Severus Alexander said:

 

Excellent eclectic selection Sev !

Now I tnink I understand why you like so much Severus Alexander !

On a more serious note, B showing its understrike (I hadn't noticed that before you pointed it out) and E for its historical significance, and even more for those beautiful jugate portraits highlighted by the cameo effect of the patina are my selection !!

Thanks for sharing

Q

Edited December 8, 2022 by Qcumbor

[Helvius Pertinax]

On 12/7/2022 at 6:16 AM, Severus Alexander said:

@ComicMan: Nice post! I love both of your new coins. Also, I haven't had a chance to welcome you to the forum: so, welcome! 🙂 I'm glad to hear you're a generalist like me.

@Roman Collector: what a great Faustina portrait! (I like the poppy too. And the fact that you used the word "occiput." 😁)

@Helvius Pertinax: that one was on my watchlist too. Also: you mentioned that there was a period during the Pelopponesian War during which Athens produced no tets. That surprised me! Surely they'd need the capital especially then! Do you happen to have a source for this info?

@Prieure de Sion: I know it wasn't a main target for you, but that unusual Domitian portrait on the fourrée is pretty cool!

@rhj959: Good to see you here! We all dream of finding a hoard like that. 😄 Luckily I already have my example and didn't have to battle the Leu bidders for it... that's an amazing price for a fairly common coin.

 

I first heard of Athens shopping to produce owls through a quite well written article, I think it is best to just let it speak for itself. I'll link it at the end

The 413 date comes from Sparta's disruption that year of the operation of Athens' silver mines at Laurion during the Peloponnesian War, which Athens would eventually lose to Sparta with the aid of Persia c. 404 BC. But there's no proof that Athens totally stopped minting its silver coinage afterward, and the evidence argues that minting continued, with Athens continuing to profit from the melting of other cities' silver coinage and the restriking of it into Owls and with other cities continuing to use the widely accepted Owls, including Sparta, Athens' enemy. No doubt, however, the number of Owls minted dropped considerably after c. 413 BC.

After that, I decided to take the study a bit further, and an excellent paper by J.Kroll confirmed what I read about the minting stop. 

The paper by Kroll is called "The reminting of Athenian silver coinage", it is accessible online, but I dont know how to link it 😔

I'll add some of my own thoughts: 413 was... not the best year for the Athenians. Not only had the slaves at Laurion fled to the Spartans, but they also suffered extreme losses of manpower and, quite importantly, money. Their coffers were near empty and they could not refill them through the mines at Laurion, which had served them for decades. Perhaps the minting did not stop completely, but the mint would have produced a lot less coins. 

Even though Athens must have been near bankrupt by the end of 404, they were able to recover - ironically, with the help of the very Persians that had supported Sparta just two decades earlier. In 393, the general Konon returned to Athens with money given to him by the Persians, it was used to mint the early "Late classical" Owls which were used to rebuild Athens.

I think thats the main points, the article I'll link below has some more details. Krolls study is quite useful for the period after 393.

[Alegandron]

On 12/6/2022 at 1:10 PM, Restitutor said:

Totally off topic but as someone else who has owls as their favorite animal (see, my avatar), I couldn't pass up the chance to show off this beautiful owl who resides in my backyard: 

I hope you're successful in your hunt for an owl coin for your grandmother!

Super pics!