[Homebutton][Shopping Header]

  [Image]                              Item Sold At Auction #11
                                  -----------------------------------
                Web Product ID: 2499
                Estimate: $1,500.00
                Final Sale Price: $1,017.50
                                  -----------------------------------
                Denomination: Twelfth Stater
                Grade: EF
                Reference: Walburg, "Lydisch oder Persisch?" SNR 70 (1991), VI 2-4




  Lydia, Kings of. Time of Kroisos (Croesus). Circa 561-546 BC. AV Twelfth Stater (0.66
  gm). Light series. Sardes mint. Confronted foreparts of lion and bull / Incuse punch.
  Walburg, "Lydisch oder Persisch?" SNR 70 (1991), VI 2-4. EF. Estimate $1500.



  The Kingdom of Lydia, under the Mermnad dynasty, may well have been the originator of
  coinage in the Mediterranean world. It possessed rich deposits of electrum, an alloy
  of gold and silver, which was the only metal used for coin production in its earliest
  stages. The Lydians later demonstrated their ingenuity in monetary matters by
  introducing a bimetallic currency system, comprising coins struck in pure gold and
  silver instead of electrum which was of variable intrinsic value. This development
  took place under King Kroisos (560-546 BC), a monarch famed for his extraordinary
  wealth, at which time the types of the royal Lydian coinage were standardized to
  depict the confronted foreparts of a lion and a bull, possibly symbolizing the sun
  and the moon. Coins were struck in a range of denominations, both in gold and silver,
  the relative value of the two metals at this time being 131/3 : 1.


Used by permission of CNG, www.historicalcoins.com