c. 440-404 B.C. Athenian Owl NGC 5/4

The Athenian Owl was struck by the Ancient Greek people as was considered the world’s first trade coin.  It is about the size of a US Quarter in diameter but it is much, much thicker because these coins were all hand struck.  The design is struck in ultra-high relief and shows a standing owl on one side with the letters AOE which stands for Athens.  On the other side is an ultra-high relief image of the Goddess Athena.  She is shown wearing her battle helmet which signifies the strength of the country.  The owl was her symbol of wisdom and was also on Athens’s coat-of-arms.  Since each of these coins were hand struck, no two are exactly alike and truly represent a piece of “classical” Greek art!

All of these coins were struck sometime between 440 and 404 B.C. and are called Tetradrachms (TETRA-DRACKUMS).  A Drachm was a monetary unit back then, and these are the equivalent of 4 drachms, hence the denomination of Tetradrachm.

Each of these beauties was certified and graded by NGC and slabbed as Mint State!  This is absolutely incredible as less than 1% of all ancient coins ever grade this high!  The strike was also graded a 5 out of 5, so the best you can possibly get, and the surface was graded 4 out of 5 with only the slightest of wear keeping the surface from being graded perfect.  These are some of the highest graded Athenian Owls known to exist!