# Coinage > Stamped metal, trusted value - Date: c. 650 BCE - Era: Antiquity - Domain: [Time & Measurement](https://lastcodex.org/en/domains/measure/) - Rebuild stage: III (Crafts & cities) - Difficulty: 4/5 - URL: https://lastcodex.org/en/inventions/coinage/ Coinage combines a prepared weight of metal with a recognisable stamp. Electrum coins first appeared in western Anatolia, where their designs helped users identify issues and relied on trust in the issuer. ![Coinage · Stamped metal, trusted value](https://lastcodex.org/_astro/plate.C_7WDbug_QlF1L.webp) ## Legend 1. Lion's head facing right 2. Radiate globule on the forehead 3. Two adjoining incuse squares on the reverse 4. Irregular edge of the blank ## What it is A struck coin is a piece of metal prepared to a weight standard and stamped by a blow. Its design identifies an issue and the authority that guarantees it. The earliest series attested in western Anatolia are made of electrum, an alloy of gold and silver. Some carry little more than striations and punch depressions; animal designs also appear among the early types. ![A bronze equal-arm balance hanging from a cord, its beam level: in the left pan a small heap of cut pieces of silver, in the right pan a dome-shaped dark stone weight](https://lastcodex.org/_astro/v3.Dw6Pgi1z_1oEsYn.webp) _Before coins, silver and gold could be paid by weight._ Money existed before these coins. In the region where coinage emerged, gold and silver had served as means of payment for centuries. Metal could be weighed without receiving a coin design. Coinage brought together a prepared quantity, a recognisable mark and an agreement to accept it. Users had to trust the issuer. The Lydian third-stater held by the British Museum under the number 1866,1201.3669 belongs to an issue dated to around 575 BCE. It measures 13 millimetres at its widest point and weighs 4.67 grams. A lion's head faces right, with a radiate globule on its forehead. On the other face are two adjoining incuse squares with irregular markings. ## How it works ![Close-up of the coin's face: the right-facing lion's head in relief, jaws open, with a radiate globule on its forehead](https://lastcodex.org/_astro/v1.DLIZA9B9_tldUX.webp) _The lion has a radiate globule on its forehead._ The blank is the small piece of metal that receives the strike. It rests on a die engraved with a design and is compressed by a punch struck with a hammer. The metal deforms against the engraving and takes on its raised features. On the opposite side, the punch leaves a depression. The incuse squares on early coins are therefore also traces of the manufacturing process. A denomination's value is linked to a weight standard. Fractions divide a reference unit without requiring each coin to be cut at the time of payment. The museum's third-stater follows the Lydo-Milesian standard. An irregular outline is compatible with a controlled mass: what mattered most was the amount of metal allotted to each coin, rather than a perfectly cut circle. Electrum does, however, present a problem of valuation. Its gold content can vary, and weighing alone does not establish its exact composition. Jacques Melitz explains the success of the earliest issues through the added security they offered users. People accepted a recognised coin rather than a piece of alloy whose worth was difficult to assess. This economic explanation depends on trust in the issuer. ## How to do it ![The two adjoining incuse squares with irregular markings on the reverse of the third-stater](https://lastcodex.org/_astro/v2.xn0JfxX2_ZAvOVV.webp) _The reverse depressions retain the marks of striking._ Workshop production brings together metal preparation, weight checks and striking. Electrum occurs naturally, and its composition can also be adjusted. Jacques Melitz reports that the royal coins from Sardis examined in the research had silver added to regulate their gold content. Preparing an alloy and separating its constituents are different operations. Separation later made it possible to issue gold and silver coins independently. The blank must match the chosen denomination. A balance and reference weights allow its mass to be compared with the workshop standard. The blank rests on the engraved die; a hammer blow drives the punch against it, forcing it onto the die and marking the opposite face. Pressure pushes the metal into the recesses of the engraving. The design appears in relief on the coin, while the punch impressions remain recessed. The result combines a mass with a stamp. Early Lydian coins can have irregular outlines while meeting a strict weight standard. A workshop could thus produce recognisable units without giving every blank the same silhouette. The British Museum third-stater retains this contrast between a small, rounded lump of metal and the clearly impressed depressions on its reverse. Precious-metal working belongs in a professionally supervised workshop. Heating can cause burns and splashes; striking can send fragments of tools flying. Wear eye protection, remove damaged tools, keep the striking area clear and keep hands out of the hammer's path. Heating and casting require suitable equipment and professional training. ## History and evolution The British Museum dates the earliest electrum coins to around 650 BCE and presents Lydian examples from that period. The American Numismatic Association places them in the seventh century BCE. Melitz proposes an origin around 630 BCE and notes that the workshops of Ionian cities may have preceded those of the Lydian kings. These accounts describe a regional centre of production whose precise sequence of issues remains debated. Early coins with simple designs preceded more figurative series. The lion became a characteristic emblem of Lydian issues. The museum interprets this head as a probably royal symbol. Around 575 BCE, the British Museum third-stater combined the lion's head with punch depressions on its reverse. Separate gold and silver issues followed electrum. They are often attributed to Croesus, although the British Museum places their production before and after his reign as well. Installations at Sardis provide evidence for the separation of the metals. Greek cities subsequently developed their silver coinages and systems of fractions. Later, Alexander's conquests greatly extended monetary circulation towards Central Asia. Coins continued to carry images and inscriptions that identified their issuers and spread their symbols along with payments. Other monetary traditions used different methods. In China, bronze coins were cast in moulds; in India, symbols were punched onto silver pieces of a set weight. Hammer striking remained in use in Europe for a long time. In the 1540s, presses developed in Germany used cylindrical dies to impress strips of metal, from which coins were then cut. Machinery changed the workshop while retaining checks on weight and the identification of each issue. ## Key facts - Earliest series: Around 650 BCE - Alloy: Electrum, gold and silver - Illustrated specimen: Lydian third-stater, around 575 BCE - Mass of this specimen: 4.67 g ## Requires - [Measures and standards](https://lastcodex.org/en/inventions/measures-and-standards/): The cubit, the balance and the metre (c. 3,000 BCE) ## Sources - [coin | British Museum](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1866-1201-3669) - [Lydia & the First Coins](https://www.money.org/money-museum/virtual-exhibits-hom-case1), American Numismatic Association - [Large print guide – Room 68 Money](https://www.britishmuseum.org/sites/default/files/2021-05/Money_Gallery_LPG_2020_Room_68.pdf) - [Reasons for the Lydian electrum coins and the succeeding Greek silver coins in antiquity | CEPR](https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/reasons-lydian-electrum-coins-and-succeeding-greek-silver-coins-antiquity) Fact-checked on 2026-10-16. --- The Last Codex · https://lastcodex.org/en/inventions/coinage/ · © The Last Codex. 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