Stater

Electrum staters of this class present one of the most contested attribution problems in early Greek numismatics. Kraay and Hirmer's grouping acknowledges the uncertainty directly — these pieces circulated across Ionian commercial networks where the issuing authority mattered less than the metal's guaranteed fineness. The electrum itself was almost certainly sourced from the Pactolus river valley near Sardis, the same alluvial deposits that underpinned Lydian monetary experiments happening simultaneously.

Whether civic or royal, the striking authority was operating within decades of what most scholars accept as the invention of coinage itself.