Ancient Greece - 440-404 BCE Attica, Athens Owl AR Tetradrachm NGC MS★ Full Crest

This stunning coin is well struck and lustrous. It certainly deserves the Star ★ rating it received from NGC. Strike: 5/5, Surface: 5/5. 17.20 grams.

Athena's image upon the obverse blends beauty and coercion, for her feminine face is topped off with a martial helmet. A similar theme is found upon the United States Type 2 Standing Liberty quarters of 1917-1930.

The genus of owl found on the coin's reverse has been identified as the Athene noctua, the Little Owl. Such birds stand six to eight inches tall, and weigh between 2.5 and 4.5 ounces. The olive sprig, which refers to Athens' major export of olive oil, ironically serves as a symbol of peace upon a coin that was employed to sponsor wars. The initials 'AOE' stand for 'AOENAION'--"of the Athenians."

The Little Owl (Athene Noctua) depicted on this coin, also known as the owl of Athena, is a bird that inhabits temperate and warmer regions of Europe, the Palearctic east to Korea, and North Africa. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The Athenian Owl Tetradrachm is the most recognizable ancient coin today. It was the largest silver coin of its time, minted from silver mined at Laurion. In fact, this very coin gave us the expressions of coin's obverse as its "head" and the reverse as the animal's (and coin's) "tail."

Such Tetradrachm coins were struck for over 400 years, with the consistent theme of Athena, the goddess of warfare and wisdom, on the obverse, with the owl, her patron animal, on the reverse. This consistency in a numismatic theme served as propaganda, symbolizing Athenian economic and political power.