Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3061 7-8 Jan 2018
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Ancients
LYDIAN KINGDOM. Alyattes or Walwet (ca. 610-561 BC). EL sixth-stater or hecte (10mm, 2.36 gm). NGC Choice XF 5/5 - 4/5. Lydo-Milesian standard. Sardes(?) mint. Confronting lion's heads, only the left (facing right) visible; WALWET (in Lydian script) between / Two incuse square punches side-by-side. Weidauer Group XVII, 103. Light brown surface deposits, otherwise well struck, with a particularly well centered lion's head and clear inscription. Among the finest known specimens of this rare early inscribed coinage.
Known examples of electrum coins inscribed in the name of the Lydian king Alyattes (rendered WALWET in Lydian script) were in the single digits until recently, when several examples appeared on the market. They remain 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 (like this specimen) were engraved with two confronting lion heads with the Lydian legend between them; however, the flans are invariably too small to show both heads. Only a tiny number possess an inscription as complete as the one seen here, with nearly all letters present.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 2500-3500 USD
LYDIAN KINGDOM. Alyattes or Walwet (ca. 610-561 BC). EL sixth-stater or hecte (10mm, 2.36 gm). NGC Choice XF 5/5 - 4/5. Lydo-Milesian standard. Sardes(?) mint. Confronting lion's heads, only the left (facing right) visible; WALWET (in Lydian script) between / Two incuse square punches side-by-side. Weidauer Group XVII, 103. Light brown surface deposits, otherwise well struck, with a particularly well centered lion's head and clear inscription. Among the finest known specimens of this rare early inscribed coinage.
Known examples of electrum coins inscribed in the name of the Lydian king Alyattes (rendered WALWET in Lydian script) were in the single digits until recently, when several examples appeared on the market. They remain 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 (like this specimen) were engraved with two confronting lion heads with the Lydian legend between them; however, the flans are invariably too small to show both heads. Only a tiny number possess an inscription as complete as the one seen here, with nearly all letters present.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 2500-3500 USD