Lot 2125

Description

Ionia, Ephesus, (390-330 B.C.), silver tetradrachm, (15.4 grams), obv. bee with straight wings dividing E - **F, rev. forepart of kneeling stag to right, looking back, palm tree behind, to right magistrate's name **XHNODOTO[S] (Xenodotos), (cf.S.4371, Noted magistrate in Munsterberg p.86, BMC 43, Head p.34, and noted in Mion. Sup.VI, p.202) Slightly off centred on the obverse otherwise nearly extremely fine and rare.

The issue with curved wings is much rarer than the straight wing issue, BMC attributes this straight wing type as later than the curved wing and places a date of post 387 B.C. Ephesus used the Rhodian standard (about 15.3 grams for the tetradrachm), during the fourth century B.C.