Quote:Although I'm sure I could have found a similar coin cheaper had I shopped around, I trust
APMEX and am hoping I didn't overpay by some ridiculous amount.
$2000 is probably about right for a high-grade, slabbed Owl these days. Pre-COVID, you could probably have picked up one for $500 or so, but prices for ancients overall since then have just gone nuts.
Many ancients collectors don't like slabs, but it's fair enough if you want to pay the extra cash for peace of mind, and to have it match the rest of your slabbed coin collection. The slabbers are getting better at correctly authenticating and attributing ancient coins, though as with any other human institution, they are not perfect. Owls are a very well-studied series and all but the most skilful fakes should be detectable by the TPGs.
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I had no idea how thick these coins were! The slab is significantly thicker than that of all my other graded coins.
Ancient coins are, generally, quite thick compared to modern coins. You have to remember, coins back then were not counted by stacking them up in neat little piles - that concept wasn't invented until the Late Roman period. Coins, handled in bulk, were weighed rather than counted, so they needed coins that would be "easy to pour". This is why many ancient coins tend to be bean-shaped.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
Although I'm sure I could have found a similar coin cheaper had I shopped around, I trust 
Posted 11/10/2025 4:31 pm
