By the reign of its last and legendary King Croesus, Lydia encompassed and held stable dominion over the whole plateau of Asia Minor, as far as the river Halys. The incalculably wealthy King Croesus was defeated in battle against Persia at Pteria in 546 BC. After this defeat Lydia became the main satrapy in the west, with Sardis at its center and close political contact was maintained with the Greek states.

An Account of the Transition From Barter to the Use of Coin

ARISTOTLE 384 - 322

When the inhabitants of one country became more dependent on those of another, and they imported what they needed, and exported the surplus, money necessarily came into use. The various necessaries of life are not easily carried about, and hence men agreed to employ in their dealings with each other something which was intrinsically useful and easily applicable to the purposes of life; for example, iron, silver and the like. Of this the value was at first measured by size and weight, but in process of time they put a stamp upon it to save the trouble of weighing and to mark the value.

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The techniques of the Lydians and the Greeks, in the early production of coin, was a natural extension of the skills practiced by the gem and seal engravers, jewelers and masters in the arts of former times. Although their techniques of refining are obscure, they certainly had the practical ability to refine and alloy metals, as is evident from their work passed down to us. In ancient Egypt, according to an account of Agatharchides, they refined gold by placing it in an earthenware pot together with lead, tin, salt and barley bran and kept it in a state of great heat for five days. They were less successful in the separation of gold from silver; these two precious metals usually found together were not easily separable. However, the precious metals were easily separated from the baser alloys. Silver was principally used in the production of coin throughout the early Greek world. Gold coin was usually struck during times of crisis and emergency only. Gold through minted in quantity in Persia at that time only later come into general use throughout Greece. The problems of making minor purchases and the need for practical-sized small change brought about the introduction of bronze coin, produced by alloying copper with tin. Bronze coin was in general use from about the fourth century BC. Metal of predetermined fineness was cut from the end of a cylindrical shaped ingot when heated, or cast into moulds of suitable size. The blanks produced were meticulously adjusted to a precise weight, as it is on these principal factors of weight and fineness where copper pieces of the Seleucids and Ptolemies seem to have been cut from plate rather than cast; Indian coins in very early times were also cut as blanks in square form.

The first known coinage was stamped with a punch in various patterns, incuse (intaglio) into the obverse. The reverse was for a brief initial period striated to prevent the blank from shifting on the anvil when struck. The resultant coin was identifiable to its make, obviating the need to re-weigh it in the event of its passing back to him in the small separate communities in which these coins circulated. These markings grew in complexity, culminating in increasingly sophisticated coin types, often of great beauty. The device used for striking these types on to a flan is known as a coin die. Dies were made of tempered bronze and tin, brass or iron. A design was mapped out on the polished uncut surface of the die and then deeply engraved in intaglio (incuse), to produce the design in high relief when struck. The master die cutter, working with a graver, burin, punch and other tools of his trade, was able to achieve incredible detail and a high degree of artistry. Although no evidence of optical aids exists, they were possible used in creating the minute detail. The dies were used in various devices such as a fixed anvil with sunken die housing for the obverse die (pile). The flan (prepared coin blank) was heated in a charcoal0fired clay furnace to make it malleable, and placed on the obverse die with tongs. The reverse die (trussell) was positioned and held in place; resounding blows from a heavy hammer struck the obverse and reverse impressions simultaneously on the flan. The coin was then placed in water to temper it. These dies were often capable of producing thousands of coins without obvious sign of wear. The reverse die, being uppermost, literally took more of a hammering and had to be replaced more frequently than the obverse die, which in many cases was well protected, embedded in the anvil. The substitution of worn dies is of great assistance to numismatists in establishing the chronological order of coins, as dates did not appear on early coinage. Later hubbing was introduced whereby the master die was engraved in relief, from which several incuse dies were produced for later or simultaneous use while preserving the original master die. Coin dies were often laid up in racks for a period of time between striking and in many cases rusted, as is evident from the pitting effect on certain coins. more