The World’s First Gold Coin

Triton XVIII, Lot: 656. Estimate $50000. Sold for $130000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of LYDIA. Kroisos. Circa 564/53-550/39 BC. AV Stater (16mm, 10.76 g). Heavy series. Sardes mint. Prototype issue. Confronted foreparts of lion, with sun on forehead, and bull / Two incuse squares. Berk 1; Konuk & Lorber fig. 25 = CH VIII, pl. I, Hoard 7, no. 40; Athena Fund I 58; McClean 8635; NAIM-BAN 6; Ward 723; DDTP p. 11 = AdG p. 43 (this coin). Good VF, a couple tiny scuffs. Extremely rare, one of eleven known examples of this important issue.

From the collection of the MoneyMuseum, Zurich. Ex Martin Huth Collection; Sotheby’s (8 July 1996), lot 69.

The 'Kroisos' type coinage is one of the most recognizable of all ancient Greek coinage. All of the issues in the bimetallic, gold and silver, series feature the same confronted lion and bull foreparts on the obverse, and two incuse punches (or a single punch in the case of small denominations) on the reverse. It is thought that the series began on a 'heavy' standard, with gold and silver staters of equal weight, around 10.6-10.7 grams, which was later reduced to about 8.17 grams for the gold. More recently, though, studies have shown that coins of both standards circulated together, but that the heavy standard was only used for a relatively short time compared to the light standard, which continued to be used into the Persian period. The Kroiseids have also traditionally been broken down into two stylistic groups, 'realistic' and 'stylized', with hoard evidence suggesting that the former belonged to the time of Kroisos, while the latter were of the time of the Persians. The present coin, however, is from an issue that constitutes a third group that has a more archaic style, which has features that suggest it is the first issue of Kroisos' bimetallic coinage.

This prototype issue was first noted and analyzed in an article by Paolo Naster in 1964 ("Une série aberrante de Créséides" in BSFN 19 (1964), pp. 364–5, reprinted in P. Naster, Scripta Nummaria: Contributions à la méthodologie numismatique [Louvian-la-Neuve, 1983], pp. 76–7). The archaic character of the type is most evident in the bull, where the fine waves of hair on the later coinage is here represented as a series of pelleted lines emanating from a solid arc that forms the animal's neckline. At the same time, antecedents of the style of the lion can be seen in the earlier electum coinage, particularly the hemihektai of Wiedauer's Group XVI. The most significant feature linking this issue to the electrum, though, is the appearance of the small pellet or protuberance on the head of the lion. This feature, usually featuring rays emanating from it, is canonical on all the earlier electrum coinage from the time of Ardys until the early part of Kroisos' reign. It is a feature that is totally lacking on the bimetallic coinage of the 'realistic' and, later, 'stylized' character. A final unusual feature particular to this issue is the depiction of the arms of the lion and bull, which are shown bent nearly 90 degrees at their mid-point, rather than in a straight line from shoulder to paw and hoof.

The extreme rarity today of coins of this early style also suggests that this issue was short-lived, perhaps a trial run before the style was standardized. This unusual series was also noted by Martin Price ("Croesus or Pseudo-Croesus?" in Festschrift Mildenberg, p. 221, n. 25), who likewise placed them between the electrum and the gold of standard style. There are currently thirteen known examples of this issue – twelve staters and, possibly, one trite (third stater). The trite has the same unusual bent arms on the lion and bull, but lacks the protuberance on the lion's head and the style of the bull is identical to that on the 'realistic' style issues. A die study was not conducted on these pieces, as the illustrations of most prevent an accurate analysis. In the only attempted die study of the Kroiseid coinage, C. L. Nimchuk ("The Lion and Bull Coinage of Croesus" in JCMNS Series 2, 1.1 [June 2000]) noted only one stater from this issue (considering it an "anomaly" in the series), but she was able to link the punches of that piece (no. 5 below) to three of the 'realistic' style staters in the ANS collection, thus securely connecting this issue to the main series. That piece also is the only one recorded from a hoard (CH VIII, 7), but the lack of full details of this hoard render it unhelpful in analyzing this series. Nonetheless, as coins 5-11 all came to light generally at the same time, it is possible that they all derive from the same find.

AV Staters:

1) Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum [McClean 8635 (ill. M. J. Price, "Thoughts on the beginnings of coinage" in Studies Grierson, pl. I, 11; P. Naster, Aberrante, p. 76, pl. XXI, 9)]

2) St. Petersburg, Hermitage [ill. P. Naster, Aberrante, p. 76, pl. XXI, 8]

3) Sofia, National Archaeological Institute [ill. NAIM-BAN 6; P. Naster, Aberrante, p. 76, pl. XXI, 10]

4) Sincona 10 (2013), 179; Velkov Coll. (Vinchon, 24 Nov. 1994), 147; John Ward – Metropolitan Museum of Art Coll. (Sotheby Zurich, 4 Apr. 1973), 613 [ill. P. Naster, Aberrante, p. 76, pl. XXI, 7 corr. (plate incorrectly cites ANS collection); Ward 723]

5) Triton XV (2012), 1243; NFA XXV (1990), 156; Western Turkey, before 1994 Hoard [ill. Konuk & Lorber fig. 25; CH VIII, pl. I, Hoard 7, no. 40; H.J. Berk, “The coinage of Croesus: New types support traditional theories” in The Celator 4.10 (October 1990), p. 9, 1]

6) Sotheby’s Zurich (26 Oct. 1993 [Athena Fund]), 58; NFA XXX (1992), 100.

7) Berk BBS 119 (2001), 120/1; Leu 57 (1993), 115 [ill. H.J. Berk, 100 Greatest Ancient Coins (Atlanta: Whitman, 2008), p. 12, 1].

8) Giessener Münzhandlung 76 (1996), 226.

9) Triton XVIII, 656; Sotheby’s (8 Jul. 1996), 69 [the present example; ill. DDTP p. 11; AdG p. 43].

10) H.J. Berk, “The Coinage of Croesus: Another Look” in SAN XX.1 (1997), 1.

11) Berk BBS 113 (2000), 11.

12) NAC 33 (2006), 170; NAC 18 (2000), 243 [ill. ATEC p. 220, 29].

AV Trite:

1) Hindamian Coll. (Ciani & Vinchon, 6 Feb. 1956), 575; Collignon Coll. (Feuardant, 17 Dec. 1919), 374; J. Hirsch XVI (1906), 968 [ill. P. Naster, Aberrante, p. 76, pl. XXI, 11].