First/Earliest Coin Minted In The World

Posted by slang on October 1, 2008

This is the Lydia(Asia Minor) electrum 1/3 stater.

On the coin’s obverse(top picture) is featured a lion’s head and the reverse(below picture) is an oblong punch

This is the first true coins which were probably made by the Lydians, a people who lived in Anatolia, or Asia Minor, during the 7th century BC. They used a natural alloy of gold containing about 20 to 35 percent silver. This alloy, known as electrum, was made into cast disks that were placed on an anvil. An engraved die was placed on the disk and hit with a hammer to imprint the figure from the die onto the disk. The process gave rise to the term for making coins—coins are still said to be “struck.” The first government mint was established by King Croesus of Lydia, who ruled from 560 to 546 BC