IONIA. Ephesus. C. Atinius C.f. Labeo as Praetor (122/1 BC). AV stater (20mm, 8.42 gm, 1h). NGC XF 3/5 - 4/5, flan flaws. First series. Draped bust of Artemis right, hair drawn into knot at back of head, wearing stephane and pendant earring, bow and quiver over left shoulder / Ε-Φ, cult statue of Artemis Ephesia facing, fillet hanging from each hand; caduceus in inner right field between statue and fillet, C•ATIN (ligate)•C•F below. Jenkins, Hellenistic -, cf. pl. B, 6 (thymiaterion, legend). Head -, cf. p. 69, 4 (Artemis, legend). Cf. Roma Numismatics, E-Sale 56 (9 May 2019), lot 343 for same type. Extremely rare. Unlisted in standard references; only one other example in sales archive. The Hellenistic gold staters of Ephesus have been the subject of long-running debate over when they were struck. In the 1880s, the eminent Barklay V. Head assigned them to the period of the Mithradatic Wars, circa 88-86 BC, when Ephesus briefly came under the control of the Pontic King Mithradates VI Eupator. However, as more varieties were discovered over the next century, it became clear they were struck over a much longer period of time. G.K. Jenkins, in a 1987 article, placed them in two groups starting in the later second century BC, after the Roman takeover of Asia Province, in 133 BC, and linked the reverse symbols present on several varieties to similar symbols found on the common cistophoric tetradrachm coinage of the Roman era. Staters with a simpler two-letter ethnic, including the present example, belong to the earlier period, prior to ca. 100 BC, while coins with a longer form come later in the series. The discovery of a corresponding stater with the name of the Roman praetor C. Atinius Cf Labeo from the years 122/1 helped further refine the dating (cf. GH Jenkins, Hellenistic Gold Coins of Ephesos, in Anadolu 21 (1978-1980) p. 184 and GR Stumpf, Numismatic Studies on the Chronology of the Roman Governors in Asia Minor, Saarbrücken 1991, p. 6 ff. and 303). C. Atinius Labeo is best known for attempting to have the censor (and the hero of the Fourth Macedonian War) Q. Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus thrown off the Tarpeian Rock for expelling him from the Senate (see Livy, Per. LIX.10). HID09801242017 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

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