Owl - again

On Nov 9, 10:18*pm, Reid Goldsborough
wrote:
Here's yet another Owl. Can't get enough. This one is also atypical, and
interesting, and for several reasons, one being the price. With
apologies in advance for my crassness (what, talk about money when
talking about coins, how uncivilized), anybody want to hazard a guess as
to what, and why? Anybody who guesses the correct figure wins the coin.

http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl8.jpg

The symmetry of the three reverse test cuts is interesting, but that
wasn't originally in the coin as struck, and I don't like the way one
cut damages the owl's head (even if that is a common occurrence on
Owls.) The off-center direction of the obverse is also unfortunate-
the fact that Athena is missing the tip of her nose bothers me much
more than if the end of the helmet crest were missing. I would thus
discount the price, and I will say it sold for $175. (This is kind of
low, so I probably shouldn't become a professional coin dealer.)
Otherwise, the style looks legit, and I don't see what other
"interesting" things there might be about this Owl. I look forward to
the answer. (Or, I could click the link Anka provided, but I will
wait for a bit.)

-Robert A. DeRose, Jr.

In , on
11/10/2009
at 03:41 PM, said:

more than if the end of the helmet crest were missing. I would thus
discount the price, and I will say it sold for $175. (This is kind of low,
so I probably shouldn't become a professional coin dealer.)

As an extremely casual collector of ancients, I find the test cuts extremely
annoying. If I were going to buy an example of this type, I wouldn't want
this one. Perhaps if I was collecting varieties and bogos, fine. But I
don't find it interesting. Since price is going to be a surprise, I'm going
to guess $100 imagining the seller thought it was as impaired as I do

Nick

wrote:
I would thus
discount the price, and I will say it sold for $175. (This is kind of
low, so I probably shouldn't become a professional coin dealer.)

I'll say. g That's maybe a 1990 price. Here's a roughly equivalent Owl
sold on eBay by CNG for $405 in 2000, before the doubling in ancient
coin prices over the past five, six years or so, a coin that was also
test cut through the owl's head, but one test cut not three, with
Athena's forehead and nose truncated but not her chin, without a full
crest, with a die break at Athena's eyebrow, and with slightly better wear:

http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/sg//sg2526.65.jpg

Those not familiar with Owls are understandably put off by the test
cuts, but this is a really interesting part of their history. Still,
test-cut Owls do sell at a discount compared to Owls that weren't
authenticated this way in ancient times, maybe on average 50 percent of
an unadulterated piece. A test-cut Owl probably isn't the best choice
for your first Owl, but it can make a really nice companion to an Owl
not test cut.

--

Consumer: http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Connoisseur: http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Counterfeit: http://rg.ancients.info/bogos

Alan Marshall wrote:

Tet -
http://www.imagebucket.net/bucket/is...AthenaOwl2.jpg

This is a coin that would definitely benefit from a cleaning. The thick
black toning obscures the coin's details. It looks like it could be a
nice piece under that. One area of uncertainty though is what may be a
problem at Athena's cheek, which the thick toning mostly hides. I bet
you got a deal on this because of the thick toning. I won't guess what
you paid, but after a proper cleaning I'd say it would sell on VCoins or
VAuctions for $400, more if the cheek isn't really a problem area.

--

Consumer: http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Connoisseur: http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Counterfeit: http://rg.ancients.info/bogos

I thought that I could see a base metal core in the test cuts. Billy


"Reid Goldsborough" wrote in message
...
note.boy wrote:
A contemporary counterfeit, $150. Billy

Nope. It's full-weight and the right diameter and thickness -- solid
silver. There are a lot of contemporary counterfeits of these, so that's a
a credible guess, but this isn't one of them.

--

Consumer: http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Connoisseur: http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Counterfeit: http://rg.ancients.info/bogos

Reid Goldsborough wrote:

http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl8.jpg

The above Owl was put up on eBay with a starting price of $300. I
thought that was a good price given that this is a full-crest Owl,
seldom seen, and that it illustrates well how with most, not all,
full-crest Owls the design is truncated on the opposite side. Three
three reverse test cuts are interesting. CNG sold a roughly similar
piece, as I mentioned, for $405 in 2000 when prices for ancient coin
were roughly half of what they are now.

The above piece was being sold by Joe Sermarini, who owns the FORVM Web
site about ancient coins. So I checked there, and the same coin was
being offered for $270. Sometimes material sells for less on eBay,
sometimes more. FORVM has a program in place where you can earn "FORVM
dollars" for various things -- adding forgeries to its database,
contributing articles, and so on, and you can apply up to half of the
FORVM dollars you have earned to any given coin purchase. So I was able
to buy this coin for half price, or $135. Amazing buy. Worth showing
off. g

This is not an advertisement for FORVM. I have no connection to it other
than participating, as I do here. FORVM has the most popular and heavily
used discussion forums on the Web about ancient coins
(www.forumancientcoins.com), and it's worth checking out if you haven't
already and collect ancients. But as balance some have criticized it for
being used in too heavyhanded a manner to promote the coin sales of its
owner, and for this reason some don't participate there. I don't
necessarily agree with this. I think Web site owners deserve some leeway
in how they run things because of the money and time invested in their
sites. Some other coin forums are even more vigorously policed.

This is the flip side of unmoderated forums such as RCC, dominated by
anonymous flamers and idle chitchatters in which the signal to noise
ratio, the substantive discussion content about coins, is much lower
than at the moderated forums, which has driven many people away from RCC
and similar forums and with many of those who check it out not never
staying. This is just the way things are, involving coins and and many
other subjects, with online discussion groups, this dialectic between
moderated and unmoderated. The ideal, perfect or at least inspired
moderation, with a light touch, allowing for unpopular and dissenting
opinion and self-criticism while damping down blatantly destructive
behavior, is seen but not too often.

-

Consumer: http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Connoisseur: http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Counterfeit: http://rg.ancients.info/bogos

Reid Goldsborough wrote:
Here's yet another Owl. Can't get enough. This one is also atypical, and
interesting, and for several reasons, one being the price. With
apologies in advance for my crassness (what, talk about money when
talking about coins, how uncivilized), anybody want to hazard a guess as
to what, and why? Anybody who guesses the correct figure wins the coin.

http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl8.jpg

285 dollars

Ian

Ian wrote:

http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl8.jpg

285 dollars

That was the closest yet to the list price of $270.

--

Consumer: http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Connoisseur: http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Counterfeit: http://rg.ancients.info/bogos

Reid Goldsborough wrote:
Ian wrote:

http://rg.ancients.info/misc/Owl8.jpg

285 dollars

That was the closest yet to the list price of $270.


When did you buy it?

Ian wrote:

When did you buy it?

May 30, 2009.

--

Consumer: http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Connoisseur: http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Counterfeit: http://rg.ancients.info/bogos