Catalog
| Issuer | Uncertain Ionian city |
|---|---|
| Year | 625 BC - 600 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Trite (⅓) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Head of a roaring lion facing right in high relief, rendered in the archaic Ionian style characteristic of the earliest electrum coinage. The mane is indicated by a hatched or striated texture along the neck and crown, while the eye is depicted as a prominent raised pellet. The open jaws reveal the tongue, and the forehead displays bold, stylized modeling. A small geometric symbol, possibly a wart or pellet, appears above the muzzle. The flan is oval and irregular, with the design occupying the full field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain, irregular |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Among the earliest coined money produced anywhere in the world, these Ionian electrum fractions predate the standardization that Lydian royal coinage would later impose on the region. The issuing authority remains genuinely unresolved — the absence of a civic badge or identifiable type places it in a cluster of anonymous pieces whose attribution scholars have debated since Weidauer's classification in the 1970s.
The natural electrum alloy varies piece to piece, drawn from Pactolus River deposits with no consistent gold-to-silver ratio.