Very Rare Alyattes Trite

CNG 85, Lot: 441. Estimate $3000. Sold for $6500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of LYDIA. “Walwel” (Alyattes). Circa 610-560 BC. EL 1/3 Stater – Trite (12mm, 4.68 g). Sardes mint. Head of roaring lion left; ‘WALWEL’ (in Lydian) upward on left (partially visible) / Double incuse square punch. Weidauer Group XVII, 93-4 and 96 var. (orientation of legend); Traité I 54 var. (same). VF. Very rare, much more so than the hektes.

The Kingdom of Lydia, under the Mermnad dynasty, may well have been the originator of Western coinage. 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 lion head/incuse coinage is the earliest coinage attributed to the kingdom, and its origins date to the time of the king Alyattes, who ruled circa 610-560 BC. While most of these coins are anepigraphic, a small number of them bear the inscription ‘Walwel’ in Lydian. Although these have been variably attributed to other rulers in the past, hoard studies have shown that they were, in fact, contemporary with the anepigraphic issues.