Athenian tetradrachms

I have not paid much attention until recently but I’ve noticed a lot of “Owls” in various auctions and lists - most slabbed and high grade. I assume this may be the dispersal of some recent hoard find? I found an on line article referencing a find of 400+ high grade coins excavated in the Athenian Agora in 2005. Is there any connection?

 

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I heard recently that there was a hoard of thousands that was released into the marketplace. I believe it because I have seen the number of owls spike tremendously. Not that it has had much effect on the prices yet as people are still willing to pay fairly high prices despite now having hundreds and hundreds of different coins in high-grade to pick from. Maybe eventually the market will be so saturated that prices might come down to reality... That remains to be seen.

Right now between Vcoins and other dealers not on Vcoins, there's probably around 350 owls on sale that I'm aware of, and that's not counting the dozens that are coming up weekly on auctions. So there's definitely plenty to choose from if you are shopping for one.

 

Welcome to CT, Varangian. From what others were discussing, the recent volume of high quality Owls are from a big hoard (around 20k) located in Turkey not long ago. I am still waiting to see if the Owl prices will be lowered as a result. So far, their prices seem to remain quite stable, judging from recent Heritage figures.

 

I would love for the prices to come down so that I could afford even a worn example.

 

What's your budget?

 

I think my wife would kill me if I spent over $100 on a coin. I spent about that on my Nerva denarius and she was...not pleased...

 

You should be able to get a low quality coin for less than $100. Heritage's auctions feature them every week. Here are past sales sorted by cheapest.

https://coins.ha.com/c/search-resul...1+51&Ntt=athens+tetradrachm&ic4=SortBy-071515

 

Thanks. I hadn't thought of using Heritage. I've looked on vcoins and most of those are out of my price range.

 

What I have seen from prices is they stopped increasing, going down some.

Its a popular coin, meaning many people from outside the ancient coin community wants one. This means demand is sky high, and the market will readily absorb 20,000 pieces. The hoards just stopped generic XF pieces from going to $2k each where they were headed AS FAST. They will get there in a few years most likely.

 

One consequence of the hype with the classical Athenian tetradrachm, it's that it's also lead to price inflation when it comes to the later non-classical versions.

For example, I think it was three years ago that I paid $450 for this...



These days I can go on vcoins and search for similar ones in a comparable state of preservation, and the prices are around $700. That's insane.

I can only imagine that in a few years when a classical tetradrachm in XF hits $2,000...a lot of budget collectors will be looking at the later versions even more and prices will probably go north of $1000.

 

Vcoins is retail. You can do much, much better than that in auctions.

 

Maybe, but with the ridiculous auction fees some of these auction houses are charging these days, the true price difference won't be that great between retail and auction.

 

Yeah they would sir. I have seen some pretty good prices in the midst of this hoard. I would have bought some, but:

1. I am not too interested in the series
2. I already own maybe 5 or 6.

Normally I love to buy into hoards, and preach it to others, but since I owned some already I let them pass by. I am sure I will regret the decision in the next decade.

 

You can get a nice tetradrachm at auction for $300-$500. Add 20% and $15 for shipping and you're talking $375-$615. I picked this one up from Leu for $660 all in:

 

I guess yours proves now might be the time to buy one in VF condition now that the market is glutted with them due to the hoard. I'll have to think about it, as to be honest, I've never been a huge fan of these coins. Mine of the later type has satisfied me enough that I haven't thought much about adding a classical bug eyes one. Chances are I'll probably save up for it and end up buying another Tiberius denarius instead.

 

Would she be okay if you "saved up" a few months' coin budget to buy a nicer one?

Wow. I have one in a very similar state of preservation, with a really nice, glossy black patina (making it devilishly hard to photograph), that I bought at a show 2 years ago for $320. If they're selling for $700 retail, maybe I should invest in Owls instead of the stock market. (Kidding, of course, but I'm slightly tempted.)

 

One small correction, just checked my records. I actually paid $424.50 for mine including shipping. Probably overpaid a little bit for it 3 years ago, but by this point considering the hype around owl coins, I've more than made up for it.

 

If you skim at about the bottom third quadrant (not the exceptional specimens, not the really nice ones, but not the ones corroded, countermarked, and test cut to oblivion) there are some great deals to be had in the midst of this hoard.

I believe I got mine for just a hair over $300 from Savoca earlier this year

It's not flashy, it has some cracks, some wear on the high points, and some spots where the silver is dark, but I still consider it to be a very desirable specimen, yet the hot shot investors simply passed this one by. Even the middle and low-range auctions are increasingly offering these in the past year or so.

 

Bought mine here on CT, was $140.


Attica, Athens (353 - 294 B.C)
AR Tetradrachm
O: Helmeted head of Athena right
R: AΘE Owl standing right, head facing, olive sprig and crescent to left; all within incuse square.
16.59g
21 mm
Kroll -; HGC 4, 1599

Ex. Numismatik-Naumann, Auction 52, Lot 126

 

The market is full of bargains if you have a bit of patience. I got this rare transitional for 360$ + fees. A couple of years ago you could only get countermarked mass-coinage ones for that price range....