Countermarks on an Owl

[Syltorian]

Greek coins are not my field, but I recently acquired the Athenian owl attached here. I was wondering whether anyone could tell me about the countermarks on the obverse - can we tell who or which city/state placed them there? Both seem identical from what I can tell, and appear to be in the form of a five-pointed star or, possibly, and when seen from five o'clock, like a letter A/Aleph with the crossbar placed rather high.

Many thanks for any information or clues as to where to find information.

[Aarmale]

Perhaps the countermark is an Aleph or a star.  They two countermarks are struck by the same die.

[Syltorian]

Thanks for the reply.

Can countermarks be tracked down to specific localities or civic authorities? I've found sites on countermarks on Roman coins, but nothing similar for Greek ones.

And is there any reason why the authorities would have countermarked the same coin twice, probably in quick succession if the same die was used - unless it's a double strike?

[Aarmale]

I don't know about who/where/when the countermark was applied, but I'm sure there is a reference.  It seems that the countermarks were struck in two successive punches, as their rotation is the same.

[justinopolitanus]

Could it be an Aegina skew countermark?
There are also Athenian tetradrachms with the turtle countermark on the cheek:
[DEAD LINK REMOVED BY ADMIN]

[Syltorian]

That's an interesting suggestion, many thanks. Depending on the angle, it does resemble the Aegina skew pattern. Are non-turtle-countermarks from Aegina known elsewhere? 

[Syltorian]

Having asked this question elsewhere as well, someone posted a link to an identical countermark tentatively identified there as - just as Justinopolitanus suggested - Aegina.

[DEAD LINK REMOVED BY ADMIN]

That'd be really interesting. Would these owls be countermarked after the defeat of Athens in 404 B.C., or would the Athenians tolerate that their recently conquered neighbours punched holes into their overlords' tutelary goddess and pretended not to accept Athenian owls unless countermarked by their own authorities?

[Altamura]

Ok, let's repeat it here ("elsewhere" is the German forum ).

I don't believe in Aegina. If you rotate the countermark so that it looks like an A, then it is axially symmetric.
The incuses on the staters of Aegina are usually not (some are, but with respect to a different axis  ).

For me the attribution to Aegina is more a promotional argument coming from dealers  , you can sell both Athens and Aegina with only one coin  .

Regards

Altamura

[Syltorian]

Fortunately, the seller I got this from limited himself to a non-committal "countermark" and did not try to pass it off as Aegina as the ACSearch link suggests (quite bona-fide given the question mark). Aegina would have sounded rather interesting, but so long as I can, sooner or later, track the countermark down to somewhere, that's fine. Even if I can't, it's still nice to have an Owl. 

[djmacdo]

Countermarks such as this were quite rare until a massive hoard with many countermarked and test cuts appeared a few years ago, probably from Syria.  A number of countermarks from this hoard, almost always on Athena's cheek, are Aramaic letters, and this on is probably too, an alph. 

[MonetaAntiquus]

Setting the countermark aside for the moment, what could be said of the overall style of this tetradrachm? Has anyone seen a match of this Athena or the owl positively identified as a true Athenian tet? To my eyes, the overall style looks more imitative or possibly a copy. 

[marcos x]

i see what you are saying the obverse strikes me as a levantine gaza etc.
but im no authority.
my first thought was aegina countermarks but they look too circular.