Another excellent addition David.
Flavian Ephesian
denarii are so interesting. The
style is hard to sum up, and yet always recognizable as Ephesian from those struck in
Rome. In all these years I've yet to acquire one, something I must attend to!
You write that you lean toward the lack of a
mint mark being present as deliberate, as the design does not leave a convenient place to put it. That makes perfect sense to me, but could the lack of a mark actually mean something? For example with this issue could the lack of a mark indicate something such as the first appearance of a new
reverse type, or a change of
legend, or even a time of year?
It just seems to me if it was important enough for the administrators at
Ephesus to have different
mint marks, wouldn't a coin with no
mint mark also have a particular meaning?
Best regards,
Steve