315, Lot: 93. Estimate $1500. Sold for $4750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of LYDIA. Alyattes. Circa 610-560 BC. EL Trite – Third Stater (12mm, 4.72 g). Lydo-Milesian standard. Sardes mint. Confronted lion’s heads (only the left is visible); walwet (partially off flan) between / Two incuse square punches. Weidauer Group XVII, 91–2 and 95; Traité I –. VF.

From the Clearwater Collection.

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. While most of these coins are anepigraphic, a small number of types bear either the the inscription walwet or kukalim in Lydian, the former thought to be the name of the Mermnad king known from Greek sources as Alyattes.