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Electrum coin blank11/2/2023 ![]() ![]() The gold coins had an initial weight of 10.7 grams. Recent archaeological excavations have shown stratigraphically that the first Croeseids were indeed issued by Croesus before the Achaemenid invasion, and not after the Achaemenid as has sometimes been suggested. The gold and the silver were refined in Sardis from raw electrum in workshops in Sardis. The reverse was struck with two incuse squares. Compared to later copies made by the Achaemenids, the original Croeseid use a more natural rendering of the two animals. Ĭroesus replaced all the electrum coins by gold and silver coins using a single coin type: the facing foreparts of a lion and a bull. The gold and silver Croeseids formed the world's first bimetallic monetary system circa 550 BC. So far as we have any knowledge, they were the first people to introduce the use of gold and silver coins, and the first who sold goods by retail. Legend Walwel ("Alyattes") in Lydian script. Herodotus mentioned the innovation of coinage, and standard coinage, made by the Lydians: Coin of Alyattes in electrum, 620-563 BC. The royal symbol stamped on the coin, similar to a seal, was a declaration of the value of the contents in gold, silver or electrum. The unpredictability of electrum coins' composition implied that they had a variable value, which greatly hampered the development of standardised coinage. ![]() They were made in a naturally occurring material called electrum, a variable mix of gold and silver (with about 54% gold and 44% silver), and were in use in Lydia, its capital city Sardis and surrounding areas for about 80 years before Croesus' reign as King of Lydia. Further information: Coin § Lydian_and_Ionian_electrum_coins_(circa_600_BC)īefore Croesus, his father Alyattes had already started to mint various types of non-standardized coins.
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