Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 126 17 Nov 2021
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Kings of Lydia. Alyattes, circa 620/610-560
Third of siglos or Trite, Sardes before 561, EL 4.69 g. Head of lion l. with open jaws; in l. field, falfel in archaic characters. Rev. Bipartite rectangular incuse punch. Artemision, White Gold, 77. SNG von Aulock –. SNG Kayhan –. Mitchner, Ancient Trade and Early Coinage, group B, 3. Weidauer 93.
Rare. Very fine
Ex Gorny & Mosch sale 195, 2011, 261.
Much about the Kingdom of Lydia is shrouded in mystery, and no consistent narrative of its history has met with broad agreement. A better understanding would help clarify so many related aspects of Persian and Greek history, and no doubt would shed light on the earliest phase of coinage. The period of Lydian coinage likely can be capped at about 645 B.C., when it seems that Cimmerian invaders killed the Lydian King Gyges and burned the capital Sardes. Afterwards we learn of subsequent kings: Ardys, Sadyattes and Alyattes, to whom the earliest coinage of Lydia is attributed. He was followed by the region's best-known king, Croesus, who introduced the world's first bimetallic coinage system. The inscribed trites of the type offered here are usually attributed to Alyattes. J.P. Six, in an important article in the 1890 Numismatic Chronicle, suggested the inscription between the confronted lion heads was meant to represent the king's name, Alyattes. Other theories have been put forth for its meaning, including the river Ales, the name of a deity, the name of a mint magistrate or the Hitite word for "minting". Even the conversion of this Lydian inscription into modern language has taken a myriad of forms, including Walwet, Walwel, Welwet, Valvel, Valvet, Welwes, Falfet and Falfel.
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Third of siglos or Trite, Sardes before 561, EL 4.69 g. Head of lion l. with open jaws; in l. field, falfel in archaic characters. Rev. Bipartite rectangular incuse punch. Artemision, White Gold, 77. SNG von Aulock –. SNG Kayhan –. Mitchner, Ancient Trade and Early Coinage, group B, 3. Weidauer 93.
Rare. Very fine
Ex Gorny & Mosch sale 195, 2011, 261.
Much about the Kingdom of Lydia is shrouded in mystery, and no consistent narrative of its history has met with broad agreement. A better understanding would help clarify so many related aspects of Persian and Greek history, and no doubt would shed light on the earliest phase of coinage. The period of Lydian coinage likely can be capped at about 645 B.C., when it seems that Cimmerian invaders killed the Lydian King Gyges and burned the capital Sardes. Afterwards we learn of subsequent kings: Ardys, Sadyattes and Alyattes, to whom the earliest coinage of Lydia is attributed. He was followed by the region's best-known king, Croesus, who introduced the world's first bimetallic coinage system. The inscribed trites of the type offered here are usually attributed to Alyattes. J.P. Six, in an important article in the 1890 Numismatic Chronicle, suggested the inscription between the confronted lion heads was meant to represent the king's name, Alyattes. Other theories have been put forth for its meaning, including the river Ales, the name of a deity, the name of a mint magistrate or the Hitite word for "minting". Even the conversion of this Lydian inscription into modern language has taken a myriad of forms, including Walwet, Walwel, Welwet, Valvel, Valvet, Welwes, Falfet and Falfel.
View a video of this lot