312, Lot: 13. Estimate $1000. Sold for $1500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of LYDIA. Alyattes. Circa 610-560 BC. EL Hekte (10mm, 2.39 g). Sardes mint. Head of roaring lion left, “sun” on forehead; [©]3√[©å√] (WALWEL in Lydian, retrograde) downward on left / Two square punches. Weidauer Group XVII, 99 (same obv. die and left punch). VF, usual die rust on obverse.

From the Clearwater Collection.

Struck from the same obverse die and one punch as the previous lot.

Current research has revealed that all hektes of Weidauer Group XVII are struck from obverse dies that are much larger than the denomination requires. The dies have two opposing lion heads with the Lydian inscription between, and that the coin blanks were struck off-center, such that only one of the lion heads and the incription would be visible. The two coins in these lots were struck from the same obverse die, but on opposite sides. For a similar set of two hektes, shown superimposed together, see K. Konuk and C. Lorber, White Gold: Revealing the World's Earliest Coins (Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 2012), p. 19, figs. 21–22. It is uncertain whether the dies were originally intended to be used for a larger denomination, or whether the dies were designed so that hektes could be struck with either facing lion head.