Posted 01/03/2025 6:59 pm
Athens silver tetradrachms are one of the most popular ancient coins to collect, most every ancient coin collector has one. Athens produced many thousands of these for several hundred years, the style changed over time. Many survived, some found in hoards. There are also modern fakes, so be careful.
Several things about the coin you posted. Is it's weight within normal range? It's somewhat porous. This could be due to laying in soil for a long time and the silver degrading. Or it can happen with fakes that are cast, bubbles, edge seam. The reverse looks like the die slipped when it was struck, there's some doubling, interesting but to me not attractive. Athena's nose is off the flan which is common but lessens the value. Often the dies were bigger than the silver resulting in not much crest or nose off flan.
I would only buy from reputable well known ancient coin dealers who offer refunds.
Prices for these vary from a few hundred to several thousand.
To compare here are my three, all bought from from longtime ancient coin dealers. They have good metal, one with full crest (scarce and expensive). I like reverse incuse where lumps of metal oozed out of the die. In ancient times fake tetradrachms were made. Sometimes test cuts would be done to check if it's actually silver. One of mine has a big test cut reducing it's value.
The new style tetradrachms were flat like modern coins. I have an ancient fake new style, you can see the silver plating on the edge, they are called fourree.
Several things about the coin you posted. Is it's weight within normal range? It's somewhat porous. This could be due to laying in soil for a long time and the silver degrading. Or it can happen with fakes that are cast, bubbles, edge seam. The reverse looks like the die slipped when it was struck, there's some doubling, interesting but to me not attractive. Athena's nose is off the flan which is common but lessens the value. Often the dies were bigger than the silver resulting in not much crest or nose off flan.
I would only buy from reputable well known ancient coin dealers who offer refunds.
Prices for these vary from a few hundred to several thousand.
To compare here are my three, all bought from from longtime ancient coin dealers. They have good metal, one with full crest (scarce and expensive). I like reverse incuse where lumps of metal oozed out of the die. In ancient times fake tetradrachms were made. Sometimes test cuts would be done to check if it's actually silver. One of mine has a big test cut reducing it's value.
The new style tetradrachms were flat like modern coins. I have an ancient fake new style, you can see the silver plating on the edge, they are called fourree.
Edited by livingwater
01/03/2025 7:49 pm
01/03/2025 7:49 pm
