Hellenistic Terracotta Symbolon for Servant Emonios. 3rd-1st century BC. A grey ceramic token (symbolon) with a roughly oval-shaped face bearing four lines of Greek text: 'for the servants...and of Emonios...for the servants...akr..'; possible remains of maker or servant's fingerprints in the clay.Cf. Lang, M., Crosby, N., The Athenian Agora, weights, measures and tokens, Princeton, 1964, fig.SW17.5.52 grams, 25mm (1"). From the collection of a deceased London, UK, gentleman; 1970-1999.The exact use of a particular token in classical Greece is often impossible to determine. The tokens from the Roman world are more often inscribed and also more often mentioned as tesserae and symbola in the Latin and Greek literature of the period. Many, thus, can be and have been assigned to specific uses, both public and private. They were used in the various distributions, to be exchanged later for money or a present; others were intended for admission to imperial games or festivals, as tickets for baths, as vouchers for inns, or as small change used by individual merchants or shops. Our symbolon seems to be reserved to the servants or slaves of two persons, a certain Emonios and another unidentified name. The inscription reads: 'AN??A?O??N = of the servants of... KAI EMONIO? = and of Emonios AN??A?O??N = of the servants of ...AK?...' The piece could be related to their right to have access to a specific place or to get some food. [No Reserve]