Heritage World Coin Auctions
CICF Signature Sale 3040 9-10 April 2015
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Ancients
LYDIAN KINGDOM. Alyattes or Walwet (610-560 BC). EL thrid-stater or trite (12mm, 4.75 gm). Sardes (?), ca. 600-580 BC. Two confronted heads of lions (left one mostly off flan, with only tip of nose showing); between them, WALWET in Lydian script / Two incuse square punches side by side. Cf. Weidauer 95 (lion head of similar shape, inscription reversed). J. Spier in Studies Price (London 1998), pp. 330-332. Le Rider, La naissance de la monnaie, pp. 49-57. Rare issue with a clear inscription! NGC XF★ 5/5 - 5/5. From The Providence Collection. Known examples of electrum coins inscribed in the name of the Lydian king Alyattes (rendered WALWET in the ancient Lydian script) were in the single digits until recently, when several examples from an appeared on the market. They remain extremely rare and are certainly among the first coins in history to carry an inscription along with a "type." The dies of third-staters (trites) and sixth-staters (hectes, see following lot) were engraved with two confronting lion heads with the Lydian legend between them; however, the flans are invariably too small to show both heads and only a tiny number possess an inscription as complete as the one seen here.
Estimate: 6000-8000 USD
LYDIAN KINGDOM. Alyattes or Walwet (610-560 BC). EL thrid-stater or trite (12mm, 4.75 gm). Sardes (?), ca. 600-580 BC. Two confronted heads of lions (left one mostly off flan, with only tip of nose showing); between them, WALWET in Lydian script / Two incuse square punches side by side. Cf. Weidauer 95 (lion head of similar shape, inscription reversed). J. Spier in Studies Price (London 1998), pp. 330-332. Le Rider, La naissance de la monnaie, pp. 49-57. Rare issue with a clear inscription! NGC XF★ 5/5 - 5/5. From The Providence Collection. Known examples of electrum coins inscribed in the name of the Lydian king Alyattes (rendered WALWET in the ancient Lydian script) were in the single digits until recently, when several examples from an appeared on the market. They remain extremely rare and are certainly among the first coins in history to carry an inscription along with a "type." The dies of third-staters (trites) and sixth-staters (hectes, see following lot) were engraved with two confronting lion heads with the Lydian legend between them; however, the flans are invariably too small to show both heads and only a tiny number possess an inscription as complete as the one seen here.
Estimate: 6000-8000 USD