LYDIAN KINGDOM. Walwet (ca. 620-560 BC). EL third-stater or trite (13mm, 4.71 gm). NGC XF 4/5 - 4/5. Lydo-Milesian standard, Sardes (?) mint. WALWET (Lydian), legend between confronted lion heads, the left lion fully on the flan, the teeth and part of the jaw of the right lion visible / Two incuse square punches of unequal size, side-by-side, with irregular interior surfaces. Linzalone 1079. Weidauer 94. SNG von Aulock 8204. Le Rider, La naissance de la monnaie, pp. 49-57. Exceptionally attractive example with clear inscription and part of the right lion on the flan. From the Historical Scholar Collection 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 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 fully show both heads.

HID09801242017

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