Gold half-ounce coin History of Gold - Golden Empire of Lydia proof numbered

The History of Gold is the history of humanity. For thousands of years, the “yellow metal” has enabled people to build and destroy empires and pursue their dreams. The ancient Lydians knew this well, and the fourth gold coin in the Czech Mint’s thematic series is dedicated to them.

In the 1st millennium BCE, an empire known as Lydia stretched across the territory of Asia Minor and was renowned for its immeasurable wealth. The ancient Lydians skillfully exploited their position on the trade route between the Middle East and the Aegean coast, while also possessing fabulous reserves of gold. They obtained the precious metal from gold-bearing rivers, but it was not pure gold. It was so-called electrum - a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver. Trade in electrum was brisk but impractical and, moreover, prone to fraud. Merchants had to have scales and touchstones to verify the weight and purity of various pieces of metal. In the 7th century BCE, however, the Lydians came up with a brilliant solution and defined a universally accepted standard. They gave the metal a uniform form, and thus coins were born- the very first coins in the world in the form we know today. The basic unit was the stater, which weighed 14.1 grams and corresponded to a soldier’s monthly pay. The elaborate relief adorning the staters served as confirmation that the coins were minted at the royal mint in Sardis. The motifs varied widely, but most often they were lions or bulls, which symbolized power and fertility. Electrum was durable, so the coins could pass through many hands without wearing out, but in the 6th century BCE, King Croesus introduced a bimetallic system so that it would no longer be necessary to check the ratio of metals in the alloy. From then on, coins were minted from either pure gold or pure silver, with one gold coin being worth ten silver coins. But by then, dark clouds were gathering over the Lydian Empire, and even its wealth could not protect it from collapse. Eventually, it was conquered by the Persians. They, however, adopted the coins as their own, and so did the Greeks. They further developed this groundbreaking currency and spread it throughout the entire known world at the time…

Medalist Mgr. Art.Miroslav Hric, ArtD., dedicated the reverse side of the coin to a rich historical collage. It is dominated by a lion’s head taken from a Lydian coin, complemented by an overall view of a stater and a period scene of sacrifice. The obverse, which is common to the entire coin series, features gold artifacts from various ancient civilizations- the Greeks, Aztecs, Sumerians, and Egyptians. Since the coins of the Czech Mint are issued under a foreign license from the island of Niue, the obverse also bears its national coat of arms, the nominal value of 25 DOLLARS (NZD), and the year of issue 2026.

The mintage totals only 100 pieces, with each piece numbered on the edge.