Denomination: AR Tetradrachm                                                             

Date: Circa 202 - 150 BCE

Mint: Ephesus (Ionia)                                                                             

Weight: 15.38 gm

Grade: NGC 8521550-008 Ch VF

Mount: 14K gold frame with diamond accent on the bale.

Description: Ephesus (Ionia). AR Tetradrachm. Bianor, magistrate.  Obverse: A Bee within a dotted border, with the Greek letters, Ε (‘epsilon’) and Φ (‘phi’), to either side. Reverse:  The foreparts of a stag kneeling in right profile, looking back towards a palm tree. An inscription to the right reads ΚΑΡΝΩ[Ψ] (‘KARNO[PS]’).

History: The bee, stag, and palm are all emblems of Ephesus, a Greek city on the west coast of Turkey. This city was an important center of worship for the Greek goddess Artemis, and the images on Ephesian coinage typically promote this association. The bee was originally the symbol of an early Anatolian goddess who the Greeks later identified with their goddess, Artemis; so close was the connection that the priestesses of the goddess were called "honeybees." The two Greek letters, Ε (‘epsilon’) and Φ (‘phi’), are an abbreviation for Ephesus. The palm tree alludes to Artemis' birth beneath a palm tree on the island of Delos. The stag – an animal sacred to Artemis – symbolizes the goddess' role as protector of wild animals, and may also refer to the sculptures that flanked her cult statue in the temple at Ephesus.

The inscription on the reverse names a man, Karnops, who was one of the magistrates responsible for supervising the Ephesian mint. In 1978, the so-called Pixodarus Hoard of approximately 2600 silver coins was discovered in Bodrum, Turkey, the site of ancient Halicarnassus. It contained 600 tetradrachm of Ephesus, including 138 different obverse dies, and records the names of over 200 magistrates, thus allowing for precise dating of the series: Karnops is associated with two separate obverse dies belonging to the earliest group of coins contained within the hoard.