The "King Croesus" branding is a deliberate invocation of the Lydian king who ruled from Sardis in the 6th century BC and is credited — with reasonable historical basis — as issuing the first true bimetallic coinage in the ancient world. Turkey has leaned on that association repeatedly for bullion and commemorative gold issues, positioning Anatolia as the birthplace of coined money. The denomination itself, one million lira, reflects the chronic inflation that plagued the Turkish economy through the 1990s before the 2005 redenomination stripped six zeros from the currency.
The "King Croesus" branding is a deliberate invocation of the Lydian king who ruled from Sardis in the 6th century BC and is credited — with reasonable historical basis — as issuing the first true bimetallic coinage in the ancient world. Turkey has leaned on that association repeatedly for bullion and commemorative gold issues, positioning Anatolia as the birthplace of coined money. The denomination itself, one million lira, reflects the chronic inflation that plagued the Turkish economy through the 1990s before the 2005 redenomination stripped six zeros from the currency.