Athena/Owl advice and opinions wanted

Lahcoin

Hi All
I was wondering if I could get some opinions and info from some of the ancient experts. I know absolutely nothing about ancient coins but, for years I wanted to get an Athena/owl. I just like the looks of it. Well, I had an impulse buy(it's a sickness ya know -- I'm such an addict ) and now thinking about branching off from U.S coins, maybe starting with varieties of owls. The only thing the dealer could tell me about this coin was that the mark on the cheek is a "authentic/guarantee" mark. Is that true? I have no books as of yet so any info on attribution(?), books to get, what you think it grades, opinion on price(did I get screwed again?), good dealers, websites...anything will do...TIA

lordmarcovan

Congratulations on getting "owled". I too have always wanted one but still haven't taken the plunge.



<< <i>The only thing the dealer could tell me about this coin was that the mark on the cheek is a "authentic/guarantee" mark. Is that true? >>


I think what he meant was that it was an old banker's mark, or test punch of some sort (like the Asian chopmarks one sees on big silver coins like the US Trade dollar). And it certainly looks like it could be.

I have an old copy of the Sear Greek Coins book at home but can't help you much with attribution. You should get Sear and I am sure some other folk here will have other books to recommend.

lordmarcovan

Your coin, as you may know, is a silver tetradrachm. And it's one of the "old style" Owls. I think most of the "new style" owls (which were still minted in the B.C. years) had the owl sitting on an amphora, and a totally different style.

Here is one page you can browse.

I'm sure there are plenty of others.

I'm still fairly green on ancients myself.

Edit to add: when you hold that thing in your hand, just think- it is almost 2,500 years old. It was already ancient when most of the Roman coins out there were being struck. Pretty amazing, huh? Think of all the progress mankind has made in that coin's life cycle.