Show your owls please!

[ValiantKnight]

Attica, Athens
AR tetradrachm
Obv: Helmeted head of Athena right
Rev: Owl standing right, head facing, olive sprig to left, crescent behind, AΘE to right, all within incuse square
Date: 454-404 BC
Ref: SNG Copenhagen 31
Size: 17.19g, 24mm



Attica, Athens
AR drachm
Obv: Helmeted head of Athena right
Rev: Owl standing right, head facing, olive sprig to left, crescent behind, AΘE to right, all within incuse square
Date: 454-404 BC
Ref: Sear SG 2527



Attica, Athens
AE15
Obv: Helmeted bust of Athena right
Rev: Two owls facing on thunderbolt, AΘE below, all within olive wreath
Date: 130-90 BC/166-57 BC
Ref: Kroll Agora 99; Svoronos pl. 24.60-68; Kleiner Type 16 

[Panumismatic]

I guess this a good opportunity to present myself.

My name is Panos I am from Corinth, Greece.

For the last two years I have been trying to be a member at the CT forum for quite some time but for some strange reason the administrators would not accept my application.

I really admire the ethos and the wealth of knowledge of all of you guys.

I am grateful that this forum gave me the opportunity to have a more active participation.

In Greece the law for owing ancient artifacts is very strict and it is very difficult and time consuming to legally acquire an ancient coin.

I can bother you with the details of this odyssey in another post, if you like.

The only ancient coin I presently own is this owl bought from Numismatik Naumann auction 91 two years ago.

I would really appreciate your comments especially regarding its authenticity.

 

 

ATTICA. Athens. Tetradrachm (Circa 454-404 BC). Weight: 17.21 g. Diameter: 26 mm. (seller's picture)

I am afraid that for the time being the only contribution to this forum would be photos of the sites that surround me and were the birthplace of many of the coins featured in this forum. I feel really blessed that in a distance from 5 minutes up to two hours from my home I can be at places that have such a fascinating history and aura.

For start here are some photos of the temple of Apollo at Ancient Corinth and the citadel of Akrokorinthos taken this winter (it snows once in a blue moon).

 

[NewStyleKing]

Panumismatic, welcome! It looks 100% genuine. The are a rated company. A mass classic owl c450 BC Very common! I collect Athens NewStyle I put all my collection of 50+ on this site. 146 BC was a bad year for the Greeks, if you call Macedonians greeks not Ba Ba  Barbarians  Corinth looks snowy in the pics   Post as much as you like. I banned from CT  for no reason. GDMSP is bonkers!

 

John aka NewStyleKing

[John Conduitt]

7 hours ago, Al Kowsky said:

I'm not big into Greek coins but I had to have one Owl 🤔.

Athens, 454-404 BC, AR Tetradrachm: 17.22 gm, 25 mm, 3 h.

Same here. I think I only have one ancient Greek coin. And of course...

Attica Tetradrachm, 454-404BC

Athens. Silver, 24mm, 17.19g. Helmeted head of Athena right, with frontal eye. Owl standing right, head facing, closed tail feathers; olive sprig and crescent to left; all within incuse square (Kroll 8; HGC 4, 1597).

[LONGINUS]

Here is my most recent owl.

 

Owls are a hoot.

Edited June 12, 2022 by LONGINUS

[AncientJoe]

I just posted this recently but it's worth including in a thread on owls:

 

ATTICA. Athens. AV Diobol (1.43 gms), ca. 407/6 B.C.
Svoronos-pl. 15#7. Head of Athena facing right wearing crested Attic helmet adorned with palmette and olive leaves; Reverse: Two owls standing confronted, olive branch between, ethnic in exergue. Minor scuffs, though commensurate with the assigned condition.
Ex. John Whitney Walter Collection

Athens was a prolific producer of silver coinage, minting millions of owl tetradrachms. Gold, however, was much scarcer in the region and Athens only minted gold coinage when in severe crisis. This gold diobol comes from the final years of the Peloponnesian War and is one of the most important and rarest Greek coins.

Athens faced heavy losses against Sparta. Near the end of the war, they blocked Athens from accessing its silver mines, resulting in an economic emergency. After four years of being starved out, the need for funds became so dire, the authorities ordered the melting of seven of the eight massive gold statues of Nike which were standing around the Parthenon on the Acropolis.

These statues were symbols of the city’s great economic reserves making this a true moment of desperation for Athens. The gold from these statues was minted into coins and used to construct a new fleet of ships to attempt a naval retaliation. Because of their value, to protect against forgeries, the dies used to strike the coins were stored in the Parthenon treasury in an alabaster box. Further indicating the importance of their minting, the historical context of these gold coins is exceptionally well documented by the playwright Aristophanes and by the Athenian treasury records.

Unfortunately, even with the influx of funds, Athens was ultimately defeated at sea and surrendered to the Spartan general Lysander.

While many thousands of coins were minted with the volume of gold from the statues, only a very small number survive today. This coin is one of only two diobols in private hands with the four others residing in museums. Other denominations are also known but exist in similar numbers, with only one or two examples of each available to private collectors.

[nikitov]

Awesome owls everyone!! I learned new stuff about owls too thanks to you wonderful people. 

My coin friend Abian made this for me since I don't have an owl yet 😛

 

[Etcherdude]

Here are my two:

 

[Severus Alexander]

Welcome, @Panumismatic!  Your owl looks great!! 🙂

Sorry about the repressive collecting laws in Greece. 😞 I happen to have just posted a comment in another thread that bears on how things ought to be in this respect: 

 

Edited June 12, 2022 by Severus Alexander

[robinjojo]

Here are a few more owls to add to the parliament.

Athens archaic owl, Seltman Group C, 482 - 480 BC, 17.4 grams.

 

Athens eastern imitation owl,  late 5th-mid 4th centuries BC, 17.35 grams.

 

D-Camera Athens Babylonian imitation tetradrachm 4th century BC, 17.2 grams.

 

Athens, Arabia possibly a Qataban imitation owl, a Jordan find, 13.82 grams.

 

Athens owl circa 450 BC, with a  Phoenician countermark "M",  17.15 grams.

 

D-Camera Athens owl eastern pharaonic imitation , paleo-Hebrew countermark "M" reverse , 17.03 grams.

 

Athens, owl, 440-404 BC 17.23 grams.

 

[Hesiod]

My only owl. To my understanding it's Seltman Group L, but I haven't verified it. Been meaning to clean up some of the deposits, but haven't gotten around to it...

 

ATTICA. Athens. 510/500-480 BC. AR Tetradrach. Head of Athena right, wearing crested Attic helmet without design / AΘΕ, owl standing right, head facing; branch with two leaves and berry behind, all within incuse square. HGC 4, 1589. Seltman Group L. 

Edited June 13, 2022 by Hesiod

[robinjojo]

2 hours ago, Hesiod said:

My only owl. To my understanding it's Seltman Group L, but I haven't verified it. Been meaning to clean up some of the deposits, but haven't gotten around to it...

 

ATTICA. Athens. 510/500-480 BC. AR Tetradrach. Head of Athena right, wearing crested Attic helmet without design / AΘΕ, owl standing right, head facing; branch with two leaves and berry behind, all within incuse square. HGC 4, 1589. Seltman Group L. 

That's a beautiful archaic owl!  I would be inclined to leave as is. 

[Ursus]

Here are my two owls from Athens:

Attica, Athens, AR tetradrachm, ca. 440s–430s BC. Obv: head of Athena to right, wearing crested Attic helmet decorated with three olive leaves and palmette. Rev: AΘE; Owl standing right, head facing; to left, olive sprig and crescent; all within incuse square. 24mm, 17.14g. Ref: Kroll 8. Ex Leu, Webauktion 8, lot 232.

 

Attica, Athens, AR triobol or hemidrachm, ca. 390–295 BC. Obv: head of Athena with Attic helmet r. Rev: Owl standing facing between olive twigs, retrograde ethnic [A]ΘE around. 12.5mm, 2.06g. Ref: SNG Munich 206–7.

 

And on top of these well-known types, here is a Pontic owl ready to spread its wings and fly away:

Pontos, Amisos, AR drachm (Chian standard), 4th c. BC. Obv: turreted head of Hera-Tyche l. Rev: Owl with spread wings facing, ME-ΓA below, Π in left field. 15mm, 3.8g. SNG BM Black Sea 1099.

[NewStyleKing]

I once  had an old style, but I failed to see the attraction of them, especially the Mass Classic Owls!  Anyone got the owls with symbols on or writing on, just before  the NewStyle. There are 1000's of coins still in dealers hands and finders hoards.

[maridvnvm]

Athens, AR Tetradrachm

Obv:– Head of Athena right with eye seen in true profile, wearing crested helmet ornamented with three olive leaves and floral scroll
Rev:– owl standing right, head facing, to right ATE in large lettering, to left olive sprig and crescent
Minted in Athens c. B.C. 393 - 370.
Reference:– Flamen p. 126, 1 (Pi I); Svoronos Athens plate 19, 17; SNG Cop -
Ex-Forum Ancient Coins
16.699g, 24.31mm, 270o

The following information was provide by Forum with the coin:-

"Transitional style tetradrachms include all of the wide spectrum of variants with the eye in profile issued after the classic "old style" almond eye tetradrachms but before the broad thinner flan "new style" tetradrachms. Recent research has classified variations of the transitional style - Pi Type, Quadridigité Style, Heterogeneous Style and sub-groups of the styles, and proposed chronologies for the different styles and groups.

This coin is the earliest transitional type, the first Pi style type, essentially identical to the "old style" with the exception of the eye in profile. The "Pi" designation is based on the P shape of the floral spiral and palmette ornamentation on the helmet bowl. The coin can be classified as Pi style, group 1. The floral ornament on examples this early do not yet resemble Pi."

 

[maridvnvm]

Egypt, Athens Imitative, Silver tetradrachm

Obv:– Head of Athena right, droopy eye, crested helmet with olive leaves and bent-back palmette, wire necklace, round earring, hair in parallel curves.
Rev:– ΑΘΕ, right, owl standing right, head facing, erect in posture, olive sprig and crescent left, all within incuse square;
Minted in Egypt from . B.C. 420 - 380.
Reference:– cf. SNG Cop 31 ff., SGCV I 2526 (Athens),

Ex- Forum Ancient Coins where they graded it VF. The metal did not fill the die completely on the obverse resulting in the rough flat high area near Athena's temple. A test cut on the reverse was filled with pitch in antiquity.

The silver is quite bright making it relatively tricky to photograph.

From the Harald Ulrik Sverdrup Collection. Ex CNG. From a small hoard of 5 Athenian and 4 Athenian imitative issues.

Comment provided by Forum -
"Athenian tetradrachms with this droopy eye and bent back palmette have been identified as Egyptian imitative issues because they are most frequently found in Egypt and rarely in Greece.

Early in his reign the Egyptian Pharaoh Hakor, who ruled from 393 to 380 B.C., revolted against his overlord, the Persian King Artaxerxes. In 390 B.C. Hakor joined a tripartite alliance with Athens and King Evagoras of Cyprus. Persian attacks on Egypt in 385 and 383 were repulsed by Egyptian soldiers and Greek mercenaries under the command of the Athenian general Chabrias. Perhaps these coins were struck to pay the general and his Greek mercenaries."

17.157g, 25.3mm, 270o

 

[Topcat7]

My Owl :- (1) 217 B.C. APULIA Teate SNG Cop. 690 var

 

[NewStyleKing]

Don't forget the NewStyles! Not a NewStyle an imitation!  This is an imitation of the Roma version above. But the symbol is Aetolia  instead of Roma. The magistrates names are still used, possibly a mocking of Rome by Mithradatic supporters !  Quite Rare  R3

 

Athens New Style Tetradrachm

c90/9 BC

Obs : Athena Parthenos right in tri-form helmet
29 mm 16.53 gm Thompson issue (new) 75
Thompson catalogue: IMITATION Obs : 1420 Rev : NEW
Rev : ΑΘΕ ethnic
Owl standing on overturned panathenaic amphora
on which month mark A control ? below
2 magistrates : XENOCLES HARMOXENOS
RF symbol : Aetolia ?
All surrounded by an olive wreath

 

YES that is a wand or Baton NOT AN ERECT PENIS!

Edited June 14, 2022 by NewStyleKing

[happy_collector]

Here are my two archaic owls. One of them is my profile pic. 🙂

Edited June 14, 2022 by happy_collector

[John060167]

Wow, some wonderful owls here!! A big owl thread is always fun! I see classical mass emissions, transitionals, archaics, new style, intermediates, and also various denoms! Even a gold one, darn! Awesome variety.

 

I have a few owls, but here are two pretty neat ones you do not always see:

 

(left coin) 1-Athenian Owl tetradrachm, struck 465-455bce, Starr group VA (transitional series).

22mm, 17.14g

(right coin) 2-Athenian Owl Drachm, struck 449-404bce, Kroll 10; HGC 4, 1631.

15mm, 4.22g

 

If you all had to pick getting one athenian owl coinage for free (you cannot sell it), which would you choose?

 

cheers!

Edited June 14, 2022 by John060167

[Etcherdude]

On 6/12/2022 at 3:35 AM, John Conduitt said:

Same here. I think I only have one ancient Greek coin. And of course...

Attica Tetradrachm, 454-404BC

Athens. Silver, 24mm, 17.19g. Helmeted head of Athena right, with frontal eye. Owl standing right, head facing, closed tail feathers; olive sprig and crescent to left; all within incuse square (Kroll 8; HGC 4, 1597).

She’s a sweetie!

[Qcumbor]

My pair of owls 

The Athenian owl my wife gifted me with for a former B'day (you all know the story from another forum)

ATTICA, Athens. Circa 454-404 BC. AR Tetradrachm
Helmeted head of Athena right, with frontal eye
Owl standing right, head facing, olive sprig and crescent behind, all within incuse square. ΑΘΕ in the right field
24mm, 17.08 g, 8h
Ref : Kroll # 8; HGC # 4,1597

 

Seller's pic :

ANONYMOUS. Time of Domitian to Antoninus Pius (81-161). Quadrans. Rome.

Obv: Draped and cuirassed bust of Minerva right, wearing Corinthian helmet.
Rev: S - C.  Owl standing left. 

Weight: 2.35 g. Diameter: 14 mm.

RIC 7.

 

Q

[Marsyas Mike]

Just arrived, my first silver owl, but not from Athens.  I showed it to my mom and asked her if she could identify the reverse images; she said it looked like a teddy bear transfixed by a corkscrew.  Now I can't get that out of my head.  "It's an owl, Mom, with an Egyptian-style crook and flail behind!"  But yeah, it does look like a teddy bear at a wine-tasting murder scene. 

 

Tyre, Phoenicia  Shekel ‘Ozmilk (Azemilkos) RY 15 (335-334 B.C.)  Melkart holding reins and bow riding hippocamp right, below, waves above dolphin right /  Owl standing right, head facing, crook and flail behind, ^O | IIIII (for 'Ozmilk & 15 in Phoenician) in right field. (8.70 grams / 22 x 20 mm) eBay July 2022

Attribution:  From Wildwinds and CNG Electronic Auction 348; Lot 365; 08.04.2015:  Betlyon 37; Rouvier 1816; HGC 10, 349; SNG Copenhagen 467; BMC 40; E&E-T Group II.2.1.26, 1379–82 (O93/R152);  DCA 918.  Noted as shekel to Attic standard, stater and/or didrachm. 

I knew nothing about this issue, but Wikipedia had a very helpful and interesting article on King Azemilcus and his coins: 

"Azemilcus ('zmlk\) was the King of Tyre during its siege by Alexander the Great in 332 BC.  Alexander had already peacefully taken Byblos and Sidon, and Tyre sent envoys to Alexander agreeing to do his bidding. His response was to declare that he wished to enter the city to sacrifice to Melqart, known to Alexander as the Tyrian Herakles. Azemilcus was with the Persian fleet at the time, and the Tyrians, unsure who would win the war, responded by saying that they would obey any other command but that neither Persians nor Macedonians could enter the city. When Alexander finally captured the city, Azemilcus and various other notables, including envoys from Carthage, had taken refuge in the temple of Melqart, and Alexander spared their lives.

Azemilcus is mostly known by his coins, small 18mm silver staters featuring Melqart riding a hippocamp over the waves on one side and an owl with crook and the Phoenician letter Ayin for Azemilcus surrounded by a series of Phoenician numbers indicating the year of his reign. There are at least 15 known years that these coins were minted between 347 BC and 332 BC, and are some of the earliest dated ancient coins that can be ascribed to a particular ruler.  He was deposed under the administration of Alexander the Great."

Wikipedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azemilcus,_King_of_Tyre

 

 

 

 

[Phil Anthos]

well you sure got a nice one!

~ Peter 

[robinjojo]

Some of you probably know that I like to post oddball owls, imitations and the like.  Here's a recent acquisition from Northern Arabia that goes right down that alley.

Lihyan, Æ 16, circa 2nd-1st centuries BC, Imitating Athens.

Huth 40 var. (weight)

5.69 grams; 9h.

This coin is quite remarkable in two aspects for what is otherwise a smallish, crude Lihayan bronze coin. The flan is very conical, with a wide "base" (obverse) and a narrowing "top" (reverse).  The reverse, for its very limited space has a remarkably complete owl, albeit done an almost modernistic style, with the head facing and the body oriented to the left.  The owl is a very odd bird indeed, with what seems to be three legs!

Edited September 4, 2023 by robinjojo