When it comes to tesserae bearing architectural types, there are very few options for the collector to seek out. Aside from a few rare Roman issues, and the relatively common distyle temple types from Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, the only chance for a collector to acquire a lead tessera showing a building is to find a new, unpublished type. So of course I had to jump on this one! IONIA, Ephesos. 2nd-3rd centuries AD PB Tessera (19mm, 4.90 g) Togate figure standing left, sacrificing at altar before tholos containing cult statue Blank Gülbay & Kireç -; Hirsch 279, lot 4922 The engraver of this die betrays no small skill in his execution of the obverse type; the circular shrine is shown in perspective, with the columns arranged so as to suggest distance while still leaving room for the statue to be visible. I was surprised to find that another specimen from different, though equally elegant dies had recently sold in a Hirsch auction, there misidentified as a “bleiplombe,” or lead seal.
Are you sure the reverse is blank? The bumpiness seems to suggest there are some faded devices there.
Quite sure. That's damage. Tesserae of this region are almost always uniface. In the rare occasion when they are bifacial, both types also exist with blank reverses. Here is an example of one that is known from two separate, blank-reverse pieces: IONIA, Ephesos. 2nd-3rd centuries AD PB Tessera (18mm, 7.48 g, 7 h) Mercury standing left, holding bag and caduceus; altar to left Bull standing right; star above Gülbay & Kireç 16/89 (for obv/rev., same dies)
It's intriguing to see the tholos in perspective on the first one. I'm trying to think of another Roman type that exhibits that kind of perspective, and coming up empty-handed. I'm sure you would know if such a thing existed. Is there any archeological provenance to either piece that would suggest how they were used?
There are coins that show the temple of Vesta, another circular structure, but none of those have the same grasp of perspective. Archaeology has not been kind to the tesserae. The scholars who examine the coins dismiss them as non-coins, leaving them for another to publish. The scholars who examine the small metallic objects dismiss them as coins, leaving them for another to publish. And so they fall through the gap! So the only published Asia Minor tesserae are a small series from Sardis that are unrelated to the present group. The gold standard for publications of coins found in excavation is the report of the American School's dig in Athens. Several hundred tesserae were found there, with many of the Roman period being discovered in the Stoa of the Agora. So the best context we have for any tesserae is in a strictly commercial setting.
Does that lend any support to the theory that they were used as coinage? If the answer to that is in your thesis, you don't have to give a long reply. I haven't finished reading it yet. I wish I had some sort of archeological provenance for the Nabataean tesserae that interest me. The most I can find is that some of them come from a Jordanian dig, which tells me nothing.
