![]() ![]() Brown has focused on financial technology and investment management over the course of his career. Rory Brown is a Managing Partner of Nicklaus Brown & Co., the Chairman of Goods & Services, Nearshore Technology Company, and a member of the board of directors of Desano. It was the combination of the Lydian state seal and the pure, precise composition of the metals in the coins, along with a simple exchange rate that allowed the Lydian stater to dominate trade in Western Asia Minor for decades. This wasn’t something that had been done before, and it afforded the stater a level of credibility unsurpassed in ancient history. Also, by stamping it on their coinage, they established an indelible connection between the stater and their kingdom. This was a long-standing motif in the ancient world, but Lydian kings adopted it as their sigil. Lydian staters were decorated with the image of a lion squaring off against a bull. It was because the stamp was a far more important visual element than its shape. The exact shape didn’t matter because the coin’s value was based on weight, not presentation. Staters usually had a semi-flattened, blob-like form that resembled a range from oval to bean-shaped. In fact, the shape wasn’t regular at all. The shape of a Lydian stater didn’t match the flat, circular piece of metal we generally think of as a coin shape. Basically, as a regional currency in the ancient Aegean world. Also, this clean exchange between the two metals helped the stater’s adoption. A gold stater was worth exactly ten silver staters. It is because he wanted to create a consistent exchange rate between the gold and silver versions of his coins. This was a deliberate choice on Croesus’s part. The gold stater weighed 126 grains or grains of wheat. Coins at that time were measurable in terms of weight, as opposed to value. The new gold and silver staters were made to be as pure as possible. Using pure metals and exact weights, the value was easy to establish. He switched to a coinage system that used pure gold and pure silver coins. ![]() However, because the exact proportions of the constituent metals weren’t knowable, it was never fully clear what a given coin was inherently worth.Ĭroesus, the last and most famous Lydian king, realized that using pure metals was a more reliable means of matching inherent value to ascribed value. This mixture offers coins the inherent value of precious metals paired with the durability of an alloy. Electrum is a naturally-occurring mix of gold and silver. PrecisionĮarly staters mint with electrum, the same metallic alloy than other coins of the day used. It also suggests that the next decision by the Greeks to silver was driven by the government’s decision to subsidize the lower denomination coins, perhaps so as to economize its own transaction costs in its budgetary affairs. This Article suggests that the uncertainty of the worth of electrum, and Thus, the close control that the Lydians had over its gold content in coin form, that was the keys to the advantage of its coinage. The alloy of gold and silver would appear a very poor choice for coinage since its natural gold content varies and is tough to measure with precision. Lydian Coins are considers to be the First Coins ever produced and used. So what made the stater so innovative? Rory Brown, the Managing Partner of Nicklaus Brown & Co., discusses the composition and appearance of Lydian coins below. He was the one to receive a government-backed insignia, securing its value as a means of trade.Īfter King Croesus converted to a then-groundbreaking bi-metallic minting process, the stater became the basis for nearly every coinage system to follow. Introduced in the middle of the seventh century BCE, the stater was the first coinage system. There may not be a more distinctive, or visually-engaging coin than the Lydian stater. ![]()
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