Just picked this up from Gitbud & Naumann on Vcoins - a Roman era token from Ephesos in a contemporary silver mount. Considering the wear and the way it's set, it was probably worn with the stag facing out. IONIA, Ephesos. 1st-2nd century AD. Æ Tessera in contemporary AR mount (23mm, 6.25, 1 h) KHPIΛIC ωΔE ΠPOC ΠAΛVPIN Bee CKωΠI, recumbent stag; E to left, Φ to right BMC 186; SNG Copenhagen 355; cf. CNG E-126, lot 60 (also in bezel) Head interprets the legend ΠAΛYPIN as related to υρoν, beehive, and ύppις, basket and conflated with πaλιν, bring back. From this, he suggests that the token would have been placed in a jar and shaken to produce a ringing sound, while the magical words were spoken. Thus, the piece would be a magical token, related to the folk tradition of ringing the bees into their hives. Such an explanation is perhaps overly fanciful.
Now that is just cool. I love how the bezel looks as old as the coin. When do you think that it was set?
I like it even more now. Usually when I see a coin in a piece of jewelry, I consider the coin ruined, but not in this case.
I've focused on US coins for all my life, but posts like this are making it harder and harder. Fascinating piece, and fascinating analysis! Thanks for posting!
I'm a bit late getting back to it, but thanks for the kind comments! It's interesting that the people who commented on this coin are not regular posters in the Ancient/World section. I guess this one just catches the eye.
I almost bought this for myself but I had to hoard $ for a comic book show I went to with my dad this past weekend. Good to see it went to a collector who will enjoy it though. Its very neat.
I agree, very cool piece. In this case the jewelry adds a lot to the historical context in which contemporary people viewed the object. That is what I love most about it. Nice pickup man.
