COINAGE OF PHANES IN DAVISSON'S AUCTION 45

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 F????S ??? S??? (or similar) ("I am the badge of Phanes"), and the trites (1/3 staters, such as this one) bear the name F????S ("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.)

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