Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3061 7-8 Jan 2018
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Ancients
IONIA. Uncertain city. Ca. 650-600 BC. EL third stater or trite (11mm, 4.74 gm). NGC Choice AU 5/5 - 5/5. Lydo-Milesian standard. Flattened surface with parallel striations / Two incuse squares side-by-side. Linzalone LN1030. Weidauer 5. Cf. SNG Kayhan 680 (hecte). Very rare, among the finest examples of the first "type" coins ever struck.
In "Electrum and the Invention of Coinage" (2011), author Joe Linzalone presents a convincing case that the 'striated' Ionian issues of circa 670-660 BC should be considered the first true coin types ever struck. Pre-weighed lumps of electrum, some marked with a rough punch, had been employed as a medium of exchange for some years before this issue, but they lacked anything that could be called an obverse "type" or design. The field of striated lines seen here, Linzalone theorizes, could evoke the ripples of water in the stream beds where natural electrum was found in Lydia and Ionia, where coinage originated; alternatively it could simply be an abstract design engraved into the anvil striking surface intended to hold the blank in position.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 10000-15000 USD
IONIA. Uncertain city. Ca. 650-600 BC. EL third stater or trite (11mm, 4.74 gm). NGC Choice AU 5/5 - 5/5. Lydo-Milesian standard. Flattened surface with parallel striations / Two incuse squares side-by-side. Linzalone LN1030. Weidauer 5. Cf. SNG Kayhan 680 (hecte). Very rare, among the finest examples of the first "type" coins ever struck.
In "Electrum and the Invention of Coinage" (2011), author Joe Linzalone presents a convincing case that the 'striated' Ionian issues of circa 670-660 BC should be considered the first true coin types ever struck. Pre-weighed lumps of electrum, some marked with a rough punch, had been employed as a medium of exchange for some years before this issue, but they lacked anything that could be called an obverse "type" or design. The field of striated lines seen here, Linzalone theorizes, could evoke the ripples of water in the stream beds where natural electrum was found in Lydia and Ionia, where coinage originated; alternatively it could simply be an abstract design engraved into the anvil striking surface intended to hold the blank in position.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 10000-15000 USD