Heritage World Coin Auctions
ANA Signature Sale 3048 11 August 2016
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LYDIAN KINGDOM. Croesus (ca. 561-546 BC). AV stater (18mm, 10.77 gm). Sardes, "heavy" standard, ca. 550 BC. Confronted foreparts of lion, on left, and bull / Two incuse squares. Berk 2. BMC Lydia 30. Boston MFA 2068. Gulbenkian 756. Heavily struck on a broad, round flan, and featuring all aspects of the design in great detail. Among the finest known of this extremely important type! NGC MS 5/5 - 5/5.Gold staters were initially issued by Croesus on a "heavy" standard of about 10.7 grams, the same weight as the new silver stater denomination (although, since silver is a lighter metal, the gold issues were smaller in size and much more valuable). The switch to a lighter standard of about 8.6 grams for gold seems to have been occurred shortly before the Persians defeated Croesus and absorbed the Lydian Kingdom in circa 546 BC; the Persians retained the Lydian coinage with only minor changes for some time before introducing their own coin designs, the daric and siglos, on a similar weight standard and exchange ratio. Since they were only struck during the reign of Croesus, heavy issues are about 3-4 times rare than the later lightweight issues, and they are much more difficult to find in high grade. The creation of separate gold and silver denominations ranging from a full stater down to 1/96th of a stater was a visionary move that had a major impact on the ancient economy.
Estimate: 70000-80000 USD
LYDIAN KINGDOM. Croesus (ca. 561-546 BC). AV stater (18mm, 10.77 gm). Sardes, "heavy" standard, ca. 550 BC. Confronted foreparts of lion, on left, and bull / Two incuse squares. Berk 2. BMC Lydia 30. Boston MFA 2068. Gulbenkian 756. Heavily struck on a broad, round flan, and featuring all aspects of the design in great detail. Among the finest known of this extremely important type! NGC MS 5/5 - 5/5.Gold staters were initially issued by Croesus on a "heavy" standard of about 10.7 grams, the same weight as the new silver stater denomination (although, since silver is a lighter metal, the gold issues were smaller in size and much more valuable). The switch to a lighter standard of about 8.6 grams for gold seems to have been occurred shortly before the Persians defeated Croesus and absorbed the Lydian Kingdom in circa 546 BC; the Persians retained the Lydian coinage with only minor changes for some time before introducing their own coin designs, the daric and siglos, on a similar weight standard and exchange ratio. Since they were only struck during the reign of Croesus, heavy issues are about 3-4 times rare than the later lightweight issues, and they are much more difficult to find in high grade. The creation of separate gold and silver denominations ranging from a full stater down to 1/96th of a stater was a visionary move that had a major impact on the ancient economy.
Estimate: 70000-80000 USD