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Message:: [QUOTE="philologus_1, post: 7927889, member: 92212"][USER=96898]@Orielensis[/USER]  Beautiful specimen! Helpful write-up! Thanks! I have a 1/3rd stater:[ATTACH=full]1370243[/ATTACH]Date: ca. 540-525 BCE.Mint: Lydia, Sardis.Denomination: Heavy 1/3rd Stater (Trite); or possibly 1/2 Babylonian shekel.Obv.: Forepart of lion facing right, forepart of bull facing left, in confrontation.Rev.: No design; dual rectangular incuse punch indention of different size.Diameter: 15.6 mm. x 12.7 mm. x 4.6 mm.  Weight: 3.94 gr.Attrib.: Nimchuk A/B (early period). Rosen 666. SNG Cop 456. BMFA 2071. Berk 24. re: The weight of my example...Under the Babylonian weight system a shekel weight would be just over 8 grams. As this example weighs 3.94 grams it would be a slightly underweight one-half Babylonian shekel. To this point it is worth noting that the surmised 540-525 BCE dating of this coin would coincide with the Persian entry into Babylon and its economy. However, alternatively, this coin may be a 12% overweight example of a one-third stater on the standard Croeseid system. (A thorough research of historical auction listings for this type revealed examples ranged from as low as 2.80 grams to as heavy as 4.08 grams.) Overweight one-third staters of this type have been termed as “heavy” or “massive” and are assigned by some into an early period of one-third stater production.[/QUOTE]