★ Of great historical interest ★

ASIA MINOR. Uncertain. 2nd-3rd centuries. Tessera (Lead, 19 mm, 5.21 g). AΠOΦ-OPHTON ("Gift") Female figure (Pomona?) standing facing, head to right, holding grain ears in her left hand and uncertain object in her right; to left, tree; below, countermark: eagle standing right, devouring prey (?) within oval incuse. Rev. Blank. Apparently unpublished, but cf. Gülbay/Kireç 224b (for the legend). Of great historical interest. Some deposits, otherwise, very fine.

The legends on ancient tesserae only very rarely give explicit clues about their function. The inscription on the obverse of our piece, AΠOΦOPHTON, means ‘that which is carried away’ or ‘gift’, which may suggest it was associated with a form of donation. Gülbay and Kireç published another tessera type with this legend, but paired with a biga on the obverse (Gülbay/Kireç 224). Another tessera type is interpreted by Boersema and Dalzell as referring to a public distribution or ‘nomè’ (see Vossen Col. 54-56 and Leu Web Auction 16 (2021), 3168-3169).