Obv: Forepart of Lion right and bull left face to face. Rev: Incuse punch. Metal: Silver 5.26 grams, 15 mm diameter. Condition: good VF well centered.

Croesus was the very rich powerful king of Lydia. "As rich as Croesus" was a quotation in the ancient world to mean unimaginable great wealth. Croesus issued the first silver coins. Previously all coins were of gold and too valuable for most day-to-day transactions. Croesus is well known for his trip to the oracle at Delphi where he asked what would happen if he attacked Persia - the answer was "a great empire would be destroyed". With this news, he went to war with Persia and was unterly defeated. A great kingdom was destroyed - the kingdom of Croesus. After the defeat, Croesus was sentenced to death by fire, but for some reason the Persian king "Cyrus" delayed the order. While having a conversation, Croesus asked Cyrus what his troops were doing. Cyrus replied they were plundering Croesus' city. To this Croesus replied - that he had lost the city and the troops were in fact plundering Cyrus' city and carrying off his treasures. After this, the two became great friends and Croesus became a military advisor to Cyrus.