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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Pellinore, post: 24485619, member: 74834&quot;]I just found another of these mysterious coins, a bronze of mediocre quality. It&#039;s an exciting idea, a coin with a map on it! This opens a lot of perspective for coins with unclear or incomprehensible sides. </p><p>A.E.M. Johnson (a numismatist of the University of Michigan) posited the reverse in 1969 as a map of the &#039;hinterland of Ephesos&#039; - if you want to find this coin in modern trade, use the word &#039;hinterland&#039;. I couldn&#039;t get access to Johnston&#039;s full article, &#039;The Earliest Preserved Greek Map: A New Ionian Coin Type&#039; in <i>Journal of Hellenic Studie</i>s 1967. But here&#039;s the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-hellenic-studies/article/abs/earliest-preserved-greek-map-a-new-ionian-coin-type/6296E10CE7E2E9E8E9EC7D6DC87C86B0" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-hellenic-studies/article/abs/earliest-preserved-greek-map-a-new-ionian-coin-type/6296E10CE7E2E9E8E9EC7D6DC87C86B0" rel="nofollow">Abstract &amp; Notes</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>To me, the curly depiction looks like a plant. Bernhard Weisser, the director of the Münzkabinett (Numismatic Collection) of the Berlin State Museums, sees the reverse as &quot;an attempt to convey the archaic impression of an undesigned reverse and puts the beginning of this satrap coinage at the early 4th century BC&quot;. His interesting article from 2009 is online to be found (just google), but it is in German: Bernhard Weisser, <i>Funde aus Milet XXIII. Ein Hort in Milet mit Silbermünzen aus dem frühen 4. Jh. v. Chr.</i></p><p><br /></p><p>And <a href="https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&amp;sid=6533&amp;lot=147" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&amp;sid=6533&amp;lot=147" rel="nofollow">here is the very clear tetradrachm version</a> of the coin as auctioned by Künker, just look at that incredible video!</p><p><br /></p><p>My own coin of this type is not in very poor condition, but it is hard to photograph. This is the seller&#039;s picture, retouched by me. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1549956[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>At the back of the running king are some letters, I think it is &quot;BA&quot;. </p><p>As many of the bronze coins of this type, mine has a counterstamp in the form of a star. </p><p>I wonder if this star counterstamp is known from other Asia Minor coins of the 4th century BC? That would be a giveaway.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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