KurtS

Ian, that's a nice group!

My coin has a few little issues; I bought it recently for $500. I feel that was a good price.

 

I wish you could tell me please about the means of detecting the place or the city where an owl tetradrachm Tyre had been struck ( like Athens or Tyre or Alexandria .. ) . Thanks .

"Imitative" owl tetradrachms, struck in the Levant or Egypt, are determined by stylistic differences. There are small, but important details on my coin that I believe are indicative of minting in Athens. It is also full weight (17.12gr), also a good sign.

Thanks--I agree this is an iconic coin, one I've wanted to own for years.

You're really sliding down a slippery slope of chequebook destruction!

This didn't set me back too far compared to most owl tets offered--but yes, it's not a coin I would buy every month;--you're welcome to guess the price paid.

The other Greeks I've pictured are comparable in price to Romans in better grades, and cheaper than many US "classic" coins--I purchase carefully.

24mm, 17.12 gr. A "classical" style owl tetradrachm.

 

I'll try to explain it. I guess the Danish grading system is mostly useful if you would like to price them for Danish collectors.

"0" = UNC, "01" = EF, "1+" = VF (more like a gVF), "1" = F, 1+ = VG, 2 = G, 3 = poor. There are fewer increments than US grading, but half grades would be expressed by 1/1+ as I understand it.

Nice, lower mintage coin! By Denmark grading, it looks like a 1+ or gVF.

Well, if we must run the full gamut of possible offenses of this coin, there's no signs of PVC damage either. I've inspected this under a 32X stereo scope and it's a very nice example, with few marks outside the 500 micron rim ding, which happened early in its history. Admittedly, it's hard to capture the colors on my camera, but high magnification reveals how the "wood-grain" alloying is beautifully toned in various colors. At 32X or 100X, there is no evidence of layered deposition that characterizes PVC damaged coins. While color is certainly subjective, in this case it's more indicative of the patina creating a "thin film interference" effect (also known as "rainbow toning"). Eventually, patina builds to the point where this phase-shift effect is negated, and the coin moves from RB to BN color.

 

That's my quantitative analysis, and I've more than adequately documented this coin for this board, lol! I've run it past a dozen collectors, and we think it will grade 63-64RB, including a one point strike for the rim mark. Btw, this is an early die state for the 1909-S VDB with a high reverse "wire rim" that was particularly susceptible to such dings.

I'll post more when the coin returns from grading.

 

Rim nick is at 11 o'clock

 

The mint mark and VDB check out to be genuine

Thanks...it does have that common problem of this series where detail in the crown is lost due to the obverse portrait, but I have no real complaints.

Jtryka--that 1819 half is very nice! Great detail offset by the patina.

 

Here's a half that was delivered here today: the 1948 50c (Canada)

Only 37,784 were minted (per Charlton catalogue), and it was a great deal!

 

Not the best shot through the ICCS holder (MS 62):

 

Just an fyi--I'm seeing these posts in Firefox and IE as unformatted html....perhaps others are too.