Æ19 - Antoninus Pius ΕΦΕϹΙΩΝ

Ephesus held the title of "first and greatest metropolis of Asia" during the Antonine period, a designation it defended jealously against rival cities like Smyrna and Pergamon through a relentless campaign of honorific coinage. Civic bronzes of this type were struck not for commerce in any primary sense but to assert status — circulated at festivals, distributed at games, pressed into the hands of visitors who would carry Ephesian prestige home with them.

The spelling ΕΦΕϹΙΩΝ uses the lunate sigma, a detail that helps narrow attribution within the broader Ephesian civic series.