LYDIAN KINGDOM. Alyattes or Walwet (ca. 620-560 BC). EL sixth-stater or hecte (10mm, 2.34 gm). NGC Choice VF 5/5 - 4/5. Lydo-Milesian standard. Sardes (?) mint. Confronted heads of two lions; WALWET (? in Lydian script) between / Two incuse square punches of unequal size, side-by-side, with partial geometric interior patterns. Weidauer Group XVII, 103. Known examples of electrum coins inscribed in the name of the Lydian king Alyattes (rendered WALWET in Lydian script) were in the single digits until recently, when several examples appeared on the market. They remain 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 (like this specimen) 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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