1/3 Stater of Croesus (a bucket list pickup!)

I’ve had my eye on these Croesids of various denominations for a long time but never had the opportunity or money to purchase one.

“Rich as Croesus” was and still is a phrase that’s been used for millenia to describe extreme wealth. This coin is a tiny part of the wealth of the actual King Croesus ^_^

They’re just such a cool piece of history!

I picked the 1/3 stater because it’s 3.5 grams and so it’s about the same size as my Roman denarius coins xD.

I love how it looks like there is spit coming out of the lion’s mouth! I think I’ll call it the “spitting lion” variety.




LYDIAN KINGDOM. Croesus (561-546 BC). AR third-stater (13mm, 3.51 gm). NGC Choice XF 5/5 - 3/5.Confronted foreparts of lion left facing right, and bull right facing left / Two irregular incuse squares. BMFA 2071, SNG Keckman 359.

(Note: Most of the info I am sharing below was sourced from Krosos coin’s website)

Croesus is known for creating the world’s first standardized bimetallic standard and by default the world’s first gold & silver coins of standardized purity. At least as pure as possible in the mid 6th century BC.

Before Croesus, his father Alyattes had already started to mint various types of non-standardized coins. 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. The unpredictability of electrum coins' composition implied that they had a variable value, which greatly hampered the development of standardised coinage.

Here is an example of one of my own pre-Croesid electrum coins also of Lydia:


As you can see trading with coins like this would be difficult because the gold/silver content is unknown.

Both gold & silver Croesids circulated simultaneously thus creating the world’s first bimetallic currency standard.

10 Silver Croesid (10.7g) = 1 Gold Croesid (8.1g) thus the exchange rate of silver to gold was 13.3 to 1




The famous “Father of History” Herodotus mentioned the innovation of coinage, and standard coinage, made by the Lydians:

“So far as we have any knowledge, they [the Lydians] were the first people to introduce the use of gold and silver coins, and the first who sold goods by retail.”

— Herodotus, I.94


The lion attacking the bull motif on this coin type has been variously theorized of symbolizing the sun and moon, spring and winter (the fall of the constellation Taurus corresponded to the date of the spring sowing), strength and fertility, Asia Minor and Europe, and Lydia and its neighbor Phrygia.

Alternatively, the lion - symbol of Lydia - and the bull - symbol of Hellenic Zeus (from the Seduction of Europa) - are facing each other in truce.

Note that hunting lions attack from the rear, also imagery of a predator and prey lying down together in peace is reflected in other ancient literature, e.g. "...the calf and the lion and the yearling together..." c.700BC.

When the Achaemenid Empire ruler Cyrus the Great invaded Lydia, together with the rest of Asia Minor, he adopted the bimetallic system initially introduced by Croesus, and continued to strike gold and silver coins at Sardis according to the model of the Croeseid until around 520 BC.

Under Darius I the minting of Croeseid in Sardis was then replaced by the minting of Persian gold Darics and silver Sigloi, probably around 515 BC. The earliest gold coin of the Achaemenid Empire, the Daric, followed the weight standard of the Croeseid, and is therefore considered to be later and derived from the Croeseid.

 

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That's a very beautiful little coin! Congrats!

 

Thanks Meat man!

It’s crazy that they were able to mint such beautiful coins back in the mid 6th century BC .

Especially compared to the slightly older electrum coins like the one I posted below it. They went from vague blobs and simple shapes to pretty detailed engravings of animals pretty fast!

This is a full century before the famous silver Owl tetradrachms of Athens!

To me it’s just amazing because its about as far back as Greek history goes before you get into the void of the Greek Dark Ages that followed the Bronze Age Collapse of the Mycenaean Greeks.

I mean even if you compare it to Rome it’s crazy to think that this was Rome’s “legendary kings” period that we have practically no knowledge about. Idk it just blows my mind.

All of this is why I had to have an example of a Croesid xD.

Essentially this is the dawn of Classical Greece and all the wonders that came from it.

 

Plus the extraordinary historical significance of being the first bi-metallic coinage system in history!

The rapidity of artistic development on coins is truly astonishing. Only two hundred-some years between this:


And this:

 

Yeah for sure! Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if they hadn’t chosen a gold & silver standard.

For all we know the history of money could’ve been completely different!

We might be buying & selling coins for cows or shells or who knows what.

Basically every gold & silver coin ever minted owes a bit of gratitude to these Croesids for being the first of the first.

 

Genuinely nice indeed, and great right up, congrats your collection seems to go from strength to extra strength.

 

Thanks Aussie! Glad you enjoyed the write up! I’ve actually been planning on writing about the Croesid since I first bought my Lydian 1/24, 1/12 and 1/6 electrum staters but I wanted to wait until I had an actual Croesid to post my thread about it so people could see the pre and post Croesid coinage from my examples

 

That is a truly splendid example! I like it!

 

Krosos coin's website?

Ross G.

 

Very attractive example! No reason to keep it in the tomb.

Surprisingly, fourrée counterfeits of these don't seem to be very common. Here's mine, of a half-stater / siglos (3.85g):

 

Yeah that’s where I got a lot of my info.

http://rg.ancients.info/lion/kroisos.html

 

Oh counterfeits are common I just don’t know if they are fourees lol

 

Very nice example. Sharply struck from good dies. Congrats!

Since these coins really chunky you'll probably find it's a lot smaller than you might expect. My guess is it's about 13mm. Fortunately, that doesn't affect its beauty or history.

Mine's worn and unslabbed. History in hand is much more fun

 

Thanks!!

Sweet coin!

Hmm apparently the Type 1 US Gold $1 coin was 12.8mm which is pretty close to 13mm so I expect it must be about the same size as a gold dollar. Although as you said it is a chunkier coin so it’s probably nice and thick.

I don’t mind if it’s a bit smaller diameter wise.

 

Anyone happen to have an example of the gold ones? xD

 

Hey I just noticed yours is a siglos! Can you tell me how big it is? I know mine is going to be smaller but I’m just curious if it is bigger than a dime or not?

 

The size is in the text under the pic. 17mm.

 

Oops my bad I didn’t see that because it was so small. Thanks!

 

Here is my third stater.

 

I believe that one was made by the Achaemenid Empire after Croesus was defeated by Cyrus the Great.

It’s a little bit later than the Croesus ones but still an excellent and beautiful example.

The reason I believe it is from the Achaemenids is because it is the more rigid design associated with them.