Note 687 — Chapter V · Lydia

Head, Hist. Num.2 p. 643, Ridgeway, Metal. Curr. p. 293, and others have stated that the 168 gr. standard was in regular use for early electrum, but their only evidence appears to be this one coin; cp. Head, ib. p. xl., who notes that no divisions of this standard are known in electrum. They are fully represented in Lydian gold and silver. Others, e.g. Radet, Lydie, p. 233, explain it as a three-quarter stater of the Phoenician standard normally employed for Lydian electrum, but a three-quarter stater is most unlikely. Nobody has suggested that the coin was meant to pass as gold.