IONIA. Ephesos. Circa 550-500 BC. Hekte (Electrum, 11 mm, 2.31 g). Bee. Rev. Irregular incuse square. Hauck & Aufhäuser 19, 2006, 108 ( same dies, but struck in silver ). Karwiese Series IIIa. Traité II 2, 1870 pl. 152, 16 ( same obverse die, but struck in silver ). Apparently unique and most exciting. Yet another example of the early bee coinage of Ephesos. Extremely fine.

From a European collection, ex Gemini X, 13 January 2013 96, and Gemini IX, 8 February 2012, 140.

The delightful insect depicted on this beautiful and exceedingly rare Archaic coin was traditionally associated by the Greeks with the cult of Artemis - really the survival of a pre-Greek Anatolian nature goddess - at Ephesos. Her temple there was immense, wealthy, and in the Hellenistic period was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Interestingly enough, the enigmatic mastoid objects on the cult statue of Artemis Ephesia, which must be of non-Greek origin, have been variously interpreted over the centuries as a multiplicity of female breasts, gourds, eggs, and even the testicles of bulls as emblems of fertility. More recently it has been suggested that the objects may actually represent a form of bee hive that is found in conical clusters in the wild. Whatever the case, thanks to the close association between Ephesos and its temple of Artemis, her bee symbol was soon adopted as the badge of the city and became a widely recognized type used on the coinage of Ephesos.