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Davissons, Ltd. > Auction 45	Auction date: 25 March 2026
Lot number: 58 Price realized: 80,000 USD (Approx. 69,144 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees.	Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on
Lot description: IONIA. Ephesos. Phanes. Circa 625-600 B.C. EL trite or 1/3 stater. 4.69 gm. 14 x 10 mm. Stag grazing right, its dappled coat indicated by indentations on the body; ΦΑΝΕΟΣ (retrograde in archaic letters) above / Two incuse squares with raised intersecting lines within. Fischer-Bossert, Phanes 6 (O6/R4S, 6L). Weidauer 40. See Nomos Auction 24 (22 May 2022) lot 196 for same dies (78,000 CHF with buyer's premium). Good Very Fine; well centered, sharply struck, and unusually complete example with full legend; thin horizontal die break through legend, which meets small vertical scratch above stag's head. Extremely rare, and of greatest historic and numismatic importance. The Peter Bartlett Collection. Ex Leu Auction 11 (14 May 2022) lot 129 ($45,600 with buyer's premium). The celebrated coins of Phanes are among the earliest of Greek coins, and are the first coins to bear a legend. The Phanes coinage consists of seven denominations, from a full stater down to 1/96 stater, with some slight variation within denominations (the stag facing in different directions, and sometimes with the addition of a pentagram or a triad of pellets). Only the two largest denominations bear the name of Phanes. The staters carry the legend ΦΑΝΕΟΣ ΕΜΙ ΣΗΜΑ (or similar) ("I am the badge of Phanes"), and the trites (1/3 staters, such as this one) bear the name ΦΑΝΕΟΣ ("of Phanes"). Though the punches look rough and random, there is a clear method in how they are applied to the varying denominations, indicating the mint in charge was well-organized and experienced. Fischer-Bossert notes the spots on the stag's coat were recut multiple times during the life of the die. The Phanes who issued these coins is otherwise unattested in the historical record. Scholars have over time suggested a wide range of possible issuers: a city (Ephesos or Phanai), a temple (the Artemision of Ephesos), the community of a deity (the god Phanes), a leader of mercenaries hired by the Persian king Cambyses (a certain Phanes who is mentioned by Herodotus), and various persons of that name who are not attested in written sources: dynasts, merchants, owners of gold mines, bankers, and officials of various authorities. The use of a personal name at this early point in the development of coinage suggests responsibility for the issue was personal (whether the issuer was an official or a private individual), rather than collective (the city as a whole). A hemihekte (1/12 stater) of the issue was found in the famous foundation deposit of the temple of Artemis at Ephesos. It is this find spot, along with the design of the grazing stag (an animal associated with Artemis, and which was used on later issues of Ephesos), that has suggested Ephesos as the mint. The Peter Bartlett Collection contains five of the seven denominations issued by Phanes, missing only the largest (stater) and smallest (1/96th stater). The first listed here, a trite or 1/3rd stater and the largest of the five, is an example of one of the most rare and historic coins in existence. (For a summary of the current scholarship see W. Fischer-Bossert. "Phanes: A Die Study" in White Gold: Studies in Early Electrum Coinage. American Numismatic Society. New York. 2020.) Estimate: 50000 USD