Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3037 Sess. 2-4 5 January 2015
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Ancients
IONIA. Uncertain City. Ca. 670-660 BC. EL half-stater (15.5mm, 7.21 gm). Field of striated lines, resembling ripples on water / Two incuse square punches, side-by side, with rough interior surfaces. Cf. Linzalone, "Electrum" 1024 (triple incuse punch). An extremely rare example of one of the first true coins ever struck! NGC XF 5/5 - 5/5.From The California Collection.In the recently published "Electrum and the Invention of Coinage" (Dennis McMillan, 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. However, Linzalone points out the striated fields were maintained for a while even after other design elements were added, indicated more than a simple mechanical function. In any case, in his early treatise on economics and money, Aristotle stated that the addition of an obverse image was the decisive step to converting bullion into coinage.
Estimate: 10000-14000 USD
IONIA. Uncertain City. Ca. 670-660 BC. EL half-stater (15.5mm, 7.21 gm). Field of striated lines, resembling ripples on water / Two incuse square punches, side-by side, with rough interior surfaces. Cf. Linzalone, "Electrum" 1024 (triple incuse punch). An extremely rare example of one of the first true coins ever struck! NGC XF 5/5 - 5/5.From The California Collection.In the recently published "Electrum and the Invention of Coinage" (Dennis McMillan, 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. However, Linzalone points out the striated fields were maintained for a while even after other design elements were added, indicated more than a simple mechanical function. In any case, in his early treatise on economics and money, Aristotle stated that the addition of an obverse image was the decisive step to converting bullion into coinage.
Estimate: 10000-14000 USD