Watch List notes:

JDL Collection Part II: Geek Coins
ASIA. KINGDOM OF PERSIA.

DARIUS I, 522–486.

Daric, Sardis c. 510–485, Persic standard, AV 8.34 g.
Obv. Darius I, bearded, in kneeling-running attitude right on ground line, wearing cidaris and candys, quiver at shoulder, shooting with his bow.
Rev. Oblong incuse.
Literature Traité II/1 - BMC Persia -
E. Babelon, Les Perses achéménides, les satrapes et les dynastes tributaires de l'empire, Cypre et Phénicie, Paris, 1883, -
I. A. Carradice, Coinage and Administration in the Athenian and Persian Empires, BAR International Series 343, Oxford, 1987, pl. XI, 11
G. Le Rider, La Naissance de la monnaie : pratique moné- taire de l'Orient ancien, Paris, 2001, pl. V, 12
E. S. G. Robinson, "The Beginnings of Achaemenid Coi- nage", NC 1958, p. 189, pl. XV, 10–13
M. C. Root, "Evidence from Persepolis for the Dating of Persian and Archaic Greek Coinage", NC 1988, p. 11, pl. 1, 5
M.-M. Bendenoun, Coins of the Ancient World, A portrait of the JDL Collection, Tradart, Genève, 2009, 35 (this coin)
Condition
Very rare. Struck on a broad flan and complete, extremely fine.

Provenance
Tradart Genève SA, Genève 1994, lot 112. Monnaies et Médailles SA 76, Basel 1991, lot 833.
The gold daric of the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire, with its iconic archer design, is among the most familiar coins of antiquity. Coins of this type were struck from about 510 or 505 B.C. until about 300 B.C., with the last issues being produced in the region of Babylon by Alexander III and his successors after the fall of the Persian Empire.
By about 650 B.C. Persian tribes had established a strong enough political identity in the Fars province of Iran that we may say the Persian Empire was founded. Cyrus "the Great" (c.559/8-530)
is the first of its kings mentioned in historical texts (rather than in later genealogical lists). He was a dynamic, aggressive ruler who conquered regions spanning Central Asia to Lydia and Phoenicia, transforming the Achaemenids into one of the great powers of the Western world.
This daric is attributed to the reign of one of Cyrus' most illustrious successors, Darius I (522/1-486), who expanded the empire by conquering vast territories from Greece to the Libyan desert, the Caucasus, the Persian Gulf and Pakistan. Despite his many suc- cesses, Darius is most often remembered for his monumental defeat by the Greeks in 490 at the Battle of Marathon.
Though Cyrus had inaugurated Persian Imperial coinage when he struck issues modeled after those of the Lydian King Croesus, whom he had defeated in 546, Darius seems to have made the
first distinctively Persian coinage. In about 520 he introduced silver sigloi that showed on their obverse a crowned archer seen from the waist-up. The archer probably represents a Persian king, though perhaps a royal hero.
Darius modified his design in about 510 or 505 by showing the full figure of the archer, with a quiver on his back, kneeling as
he prepares to discharge an arrow. He produced coins with this design in both silver and gold. Greek sources call the largest gold pieces darics (after Darius' name) or toxotai ("archers"). They are believed to have been worth 20 of the silver sigloi, which mainly were used in the westernmost parts of modern Turkey. Darics, however, circulated in many parts of the ancient world.
In about 490 or 480, Persian coinage was further modified. The new issues, perhaps introduced by Darius' son, Xerxes (486-465), show the archer in a nearly identical pose, though he appears to be simultaneously running and kneeling. Furthermore, instead of drawing his bowstring, he holds the bow in his extended left hand, and in his right hand he holds a spear or, on some later issues introduced in around 450, a dagger.