Tmolos (AD 128-137) AE 19 - Sabina

Sabina, Augusta, 128-136/7 AD. AE19 (4.46g, 7h). Draped bust right, wearing stephane / Apollo standing right, holding bow and arrow. Near VF, green patina. Fine style portrait. Rare.

For a general introduction to the city of Tmolus and its coinage see Clive Foss, “A neighbor of Sardis: the city of Tmolus and its successors,” Classical Antiquity, vol. 1, no. 2 (Oct. 1982), pp. 178-201. While some of the city’s pseudo-autonomous issues are problematic to date, it appears that Tmolus first gained the right to coin in her name under Hadrian (Foss p. 180). Coinage with imperial portraits from his reign appears in three denominations: the current issue in the name of Sabina being the smallest denomination, the rare type of Antinous serving as a double (Blum p. 51, 1), and a type in the name of Hadrian and Aelius (Triton XV, lot 1393), which has only recently come to light, valued at one and a half times the current type. Tmolus issued coinage very sporadically and it is doubtful that a mint was established for such a small output, with nearby Sardis being a logical point of production.