The enormous aesthetic diversity of the Euro coin truly delights thousands of numismatics enthusiasts, because in terms of the single currency, each of the 8 existing coins has a coin that is the same for all user countries “, but the other varies from country to country. That is why, despite its young age, the euro was immediately appreciated thanks to the commemorative coins. In fact, starting from 2004, countries with a single currency (today there are 19) began to rapidly mint Specimens of this type: The Hellenic Republic was the first country to mint a two-euro commemorative coin.
Over the years, the coin with the word “owl” has been very popular with coin lovers on the Internet: it is immediately distinguishable from the animal represented by one of the “faces” of the Greek 1 euro specimen. Since 2002 it has adopted a single currency in a similar way to our country.
The truth about the owl coins
On the Internet, very hot rumors have been circulating for years about the rarity of this piece, even if some examples could very well have reached us Italians, given that Greece is not far away and quite popular, especially during the holidays.
The bird in question is actually an owl rather than an owl, a reference to Athenian culture, an ancient Greek symbol sacred to Athena, the goddess of wisdom.
Coins and owls?
Since the adoption of the euro, Greece is still a country with an owl on a 1 euro coin produced in the Greek islands.
In fact, the animal depicted is an owl, a symbol of wisdom and the “shoulders” of the goddess Athena, one of the most popular goddesses of the classical period, symbolize not only wisdom but also culture, knowledge and tenacity. The presence on the 1 Euro coin is a tribute to the ubiquitous Greek 4 drachma coin in antiquity. As mentioned, the obverse shows the owl of Athena, with at the top a symbol called Anthemion, the “signature” of the Athens Mint, and at the bottom the year of the mint.
How much is it worth
According to many monetary portals, coins with owls are generally defined as “rare”, especially in the versions with an “S” on the 6th star on the lower edge of the coin, in the center of the year of minting: this letter appears on a considerable number of coins made in 2002 and identifies the word Suomi, which in the original language means Finland.
This is because in the first years since the adoption of the euro, the Finnish Mint developed a large number of Greek coins, but in reality this is not a particularly rare example, which can never exceed a face value of 1 euro.
There are fewer recently minted specimens than in the past and much more interesting: a € 1 coin from 2013 with an owl in Brilliant condition worth € 13.
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