IONIA. Ephesus. Pseudo-autonomous issue. Hemiassarion (Orichalcum, 15 mm, 3.47 g, 6 h), Kousinios, episkopos for the fourth time, circa 49/50 AD. E-ΦE Bee. Rev. KOYΣI/NIOΣ / TO - Δ Stag standing right. RPC I -. RPC I Suppl. -. Apparently unpublished. A well centered and very attractive issue. Good very fine.

This interesting coin looks pre-Roman, but Kousinios is attested as 'episkopos' for the fourth time on coins of Claudius and Agrippina, thus leaving no doubt that this piece belongs to the same issue. The exact meaning of the title episkopos is unknown: it only occurs on coins from Ephesos under Claudius and while Friedländer has suggested that it is an equivalent of ἐπιμελητής (= epimeletes, a magistrate in charge of the coinage of a polis), this is rather unlikely, as no coins of Kousinios from his first three years in office are known