LYDIAN KINGDOM. Walwet (before ca. 560 BC). EL third-stater or trite (13mm, 4.67 gm). NGC VF 5/5 - 3/5. Lydo-Milesian standard. Sardes(?) mint. Confronting lion's heads, only the left (facing right) visible; WALWET (Lydian script) between / Two incuse square punches of unequal size, side by side, with irregular interior surfaces. Weidauer Group XVII, 95. SNG von Aulock 8204. Known examples of electrum coins inscribed in the name of the Lydian king Alyattes (rendered WALWET in the ancient Lydian script) were in the single digits until recently, when several examples appeared on the market. They remain extremely rare and are certainly among the first coins in history to carry an inscription along with a "type." The dies of third-staters (trites) and sixth-staters (hectes) were engraved with two confronting lion heads with the Lydian legend between them; however, the flans are invariably too small to show both heads.

HID09801242017

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