Leu Numismatik AG
Web Auction 7 23-24 Feb 2019
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WEIGHTS, Greek. Weight of 1 Stater (Bronze, 25 mm, 14.11 g), a triangular coin weight with inscribed edges, 1st century AD. CTA / A; on the edges, ЄTOYC - [.]T[.] - KAI HNT. Rev. Blank. Unique and of great interest. Patina stripped, otherwise, very fine.
This very interesting weight for a stater bears two dates on its edges, of which unfortunately just one - HNT = 358 - is fully readable. We do not know which eras were used, but since both years are larger than 300 (T = 300), and considering the fact that the earliest known eras start in the late 4th century BC, the weight dates to the early Roman Imperial time at the earliest (if 358 is to the Seleukid Era, this would correspond to 46/7 AD). Such a late dating corresponds to the use of the lunate epsilon and sigma, but it also poses a problem as no staters of such a weight circulated in the Mediterranean region in the Roman era. Could it be that the weight was used somewhere in the Levante for autonomous Tyrean shekels, which were being struck well into the 1st century AD and which weighed around 14.0-14.3 g?
This very interesting weight for a stater bears two dates on its edges, of which unfortunately just one - HNT = 358 - is fully readable. We do not know which eras were used, but since both years are larger than 300 (T = 300), and considering the fact that the earliest known eras start in the late 4th century BC, the weight dates to the early Roman Imperial time at the earliest (if 358 is to the Seleukid Era, this would correspond to 46/7 AD). Such a late dating corresponds to the use of the lunate epsilon and sigma, but it also poses a problem as no staters of such a weight circulated in the Mediterranean region in the Roman era. Could it be that the weight was used somewhere in the Levante for autonomous Tyrean shekels, which were being struck well into the 1st century AD and which weighed around 14.0-14.3 g?