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 Replies: 10 / Views: 4,321 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
I've spent some time studying owl tetradrachms, and have archived pictures of various types. Perhaps collectors here would enjoy seeing the earliest style? They are seldom seen for sale, and never in my budget--so I collect pictures instead.  Archaic Owls were the first Athenian owls, minted c. 510 to 480 BC. This period often depicts Athena with a noticeably accentuated eye, owing to the connection between eyesight and the goddess of wisdom. This is also why an owl was chosen as her symbol, and still represents wisdom to this day. The dates cited below were taken from auction notes.   c. 510 BC. Struck on a rough flan common to archaic owls.  A nice depiction of Athena  c. 500 BC   c. 500-480 BC  Nice owl. The flan is more refined on this one.  Classical Owls, sometimes called an Old Style Owls, were introduced c. 478 BC and likely continued to c. 393 BC. In contrast to Archaic Owls, Athena's helmet on Classical Owls is decorated with a floral scroll (flowery design), sometimes called a palmette (stylized palm leaf), as well as three olive leaves, and the reverse includes a crescent moon. Like a wreath of triumph, the floral scroll probably refers to the Greek victory over the Persians, though some regard it as merely decorative. Some regard the crescent moon as merely referring to owls' nocturnal activities. Others believe it refers to the Battle of Marathon, though this battle took place during a full moon. It more likely refers to the Battle of Salamis, which was more decisive and took place shortly before the addition of this feature to Owls. As with Archaic Owls, the reverse includes an olive sprig. Text source here.An early classical owl, c. 475-465 BC  |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2838 Posts |
Great post and fantastic pictures  |
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
I have wanted one of these for a long time, your posts on this coin type has resparked my desire to go and buy one. Guess I'll have to start saving up for one. Beautiful coins.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4253 Posts |
Very interesting. I have never collected these Tets, but I have always admired them. However, I never new about the Archaic style until this post. Personally, I like the classical owl best, but, hey, I'll take any of them. Thanks for the lesson.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2100 Posts |
If you want to get into collecting the ramge of these tets then be prepared for sepnding a decent budget.
The archaic types come up less often than the classical style and carry a hefty premium.
The classical style dominates the offerings though a superb example still carries a hefty premium even a decent uncut example is outside the budget of many collectors.
There is a transitional issue where the style is generally classical but there ias been a change from the opal shaped eye to a profile eye. These don't come up that often.
There is then the more normal profile eye issue sometimes referred to as the Pi issue due to the floral decoration on Athena's helmet looking like Pi. These come up very regularly but are often on small, tight flans and a good example carries a decent premium.
Then there is the Athens "New Style" which is a different set of beasts entirely and has many sub-variants and can become a collection theme in it's own right.
If the true Athenian examples aren't enough then there are the emergency fouree issues, the imitatives from Egypt, Baktria etc...
This assumes you don't have budget for Decadrachms but there is the whole franctional owl thing that can take you in a different direction.
I have a couple of Classical, a transitional and an Egyptian imitative and would love to fill in other gaps and perhaps over the years will do so but will need to come into some money from somewhere....
Wonderful gallery of archaics by the way.... makes me drool.
Regards,
Martin
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
From my reading of Seltman some time ago, the silver for the Athenian coinage in this period came from Laurium, not too far to the west of Athens.
This is why Athens grew in importance in the way it did. The Athenians had a ready supply of silver.
These coins were originally made with a globular fabric, which became less so over time.
When you handle these coins, they are very tactile; you know you have a genuine piece of money in your hands.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
10045 Posts |
Thanks Martin for explaining the wide range of types! I find these owls an interesting direction of study, and I have a lot more reading to do. Many like archaics are outside my budget, but I hope to acquire an uncut classical type soon. Sel,  they are a very tactile form of money--that's part of their draw for me. Edited by DVCollector
02/09/2012 12:11 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2100 Posts |
Here are my four owls thus far:- Classic style and cut 1:-  Classic style and cut 2 with punch mark:-  Transitional pre-Pi:-  Egyptian Imitative:-  Regards, Martin |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Martin, that's a nice group of owls! I have also read about the Egyptian imitative owls, and how Athena's eye is styled differently; yours shows that well. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
All of them are interesting, especially the early ones. And it's also interesting how you can see them change over time just from the pictures.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Looking at all these great coins made it too hard to resist getting one I have been considering. I like the owl and that Athena's helmet has a portion of the crest. It was a nice price, sold by a well-known dealer too, but my coin budget is toast for February, alas.   17.06 gr. Edited by DVCollector
02/09/2012 4:02 pm
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Replies: 10 / Views: 4,321 |
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Posted 02/08/2012 8:32 pm
