Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 200. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $11000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of LYDIA. Time of Cyrus to Darios I. Circa 545-520 BC. AV Stater (8.06 g). Sardes mint. Confronted foreparts of lion right and bull left / Two incuse square punches of unequal size. Traité I -; SNG Kayhan 1023; SNG von Aulock 8211; SNG Copenhagen Supp. 362. Superb EF, lustrous. Wonderful early Persian style.

This coinage, which imitated the types of King Kroisos, was the first coinage of the Achaemenid Empire.