Howdy all, I recently acquired these two tetradrachms off eBay. I know ancients on eBay are always a gamble, but I felt confident on these because of seller returns and PayPal recourse. Anyways, I am fairly confident of the authenticity on the one with the white background. However, the other one strikes me as a little more suspicious, perhaps cast? Unfortunately, I am unable to determine the coins' weights at the moment. Any and all help is appreciated, thanks!
They look good to me, but I'll hang around to see what the experts say. Weights, size in mm and edge shots would help.
I wonder, is anyone else a little concerned about the flow(y) look on the reverse on the first owl? Like maybe its been cast, as opposed to struck? If not, fine. Honestly, I'm no expert in this.
I think both coins are okay. Weight information would be helpful. Who did you buy these coins from? The top coin has an owl style, and an eye style more suggestive of an Eastern or Egyptian imitation. I've noticed this type showing up now and then. The bottom coin could also be an imitation owl.
Are you looking at the eyes of Athena? That was the only detail I questioned with this coin, but I never knew much about this type.
There's a lot of controversy about the eyes. The consensus is that the eye opened over the later course of the mass production. That can be seen in the late issues. The eyes on your two coins also droop. Some experts attribute this style to Egypt. There is much that remains a subject of debate. It is clear that the Attica tetradrachm was widely imitated, both legitimately by local rulers and illegitimately by counterfeiters. Complicating the matter is that many of the imitative coins are very close to the original design, at least on first glance, and it takes detailed analysis to differentiate one from the other, something that is beyond my capacity to do. You could send these coins to David Sear. His rates are reasonable, and you'll get certificates for both coins. If you do that, please let me know the outcome. Here's a link to his website: https://www.davidrsear.com/certification.html
