Finest Known
Punch Linked to Prototype Issue

Triton XIX, Lot: 244. Estimate $50000. Sold for $120000. 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. Regular issue. Confronted foreparts of lion and bull / Two incuse squares. Berk 2; Le Rider, Naissance, pl. V, 2; Traité I 396; BMC 30; Boston MFA 2068–9; Gulbenkian 756. Superb EF, lustrous. Arguably the finest known Kroisos heavy stater; for a nearly comparable example, see Gorny & Mosch 207, lot 366, described as “unique in this condition”.

The reverse punches used on this example are the same ones used on the previous lot, a “prototype” issue of Kroisos that is regarded as the first gold coinage of the ancient world. As one would expect, the punches here appear to have been in a more worn state than when they were used for the prototype stater, confirming the relative chronology of the two issues, while also suggesting that there was not a significant distance in time between these issues, either.