Ancient Greece (Lydia) Lion and Bull Stater 560BC to 546BC

The ancient kingdom of Lydia, located in today's western Turkey, has rich history in Greek and Roman cultures, including biblical history in the book of Revelation. From a numismatic (coin collecting) standpoint, many scholars agree that the Lydian Kingdom was the first to produce metallic coinage, starting in the 7th century BC. Now that's pretty neat!

Lions are a common theme of Lydian coinage. The example here shows a lion and bull facing each other, minted in silver. Our picture is a one-half stater (weight 5.1 grams) from Daniel Frank Sedwick in Winter Park, Florida, USA which sold for $220 US dollars in a 2010 auction. I have seen coins with better-defined lion/bull renditions selling as high as $1000.

Each coin like this, of course, stands on its own merits. The collector base is somewhat small, so exact pricing is impossible. Very roughly:

worn: $100 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $250
well preserved: $1000

Andrei sent us a picture of his coin, and it looks like Sedwick's coin. But authentication is difficult with coins like this. It is extremely easy for modern metallurgy to produce coins that look like they were minted in 546BC. An inquiry to a professional authenticator (e.g., at PCGS, NGC, ANACS, or ICG) will yield precise answers.

There are more great pictures of these intriguing coins over at Wildwinds. Sometimes these are found in gold:

This one sold for $7250 in a 2014 Heritage auction.
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