From: Reid Goldsborough

http://rg.ancients.info/lion/

This is all written in stone -- it's part of the Ten Commandments,
actually

Naturally. And as per your usual, it is full of errors and misconceptions.

For those who care, in his typical penchant for exageration, Reid has
incorrectly implied that the Lydian stater with the Lion
was the world's first coin. He also incorrectly attributes the date of origin
of the electrum coinage to be 600 BC;
this is about 50-60 years too late, as pure gold and silver coinage was in use
by 610 BC, if not earlier. He also gets
the dates of reign of the Lydian kings incorrect.

Date of lion stater given as 650 BC:
http://www.usask.ca/antiquities/coins/asia_minor.html

date of Lydian coinage given as 610 BC, Lion Stater as 650 BC:
http://worldcoincatalog.com/Contents.../invention.htm

Date of the first Lydian mint given as 610 at Sardis, producing electurm lumps,
blank except for a punch mark.
Note also the correct chronology of Kings and dates of reign:
http://www.coin-gallery.com/cgearlycoins.htm

one of the more thorough on the subject.
Note that the type "Lion’s head r., with globule, radiate, on forehead" is
listed second.
Hence, not only is the lion stater not the first coin, the type that Reid would
'personally call "The Coin."' isn't even considered the inital type of the
series:
http://www.snible.org/coins/hn/lydia.html


Another rather exhuastive and scholarly source which also dating the staters
from 650.
It includes a concise, yet detailed explanation of the evolution of Lydian
coinage from plain lump of electrum to the
"coin" with the lion obverse and double-punch reverse. The article is also
balanced, in that it allows that the Ionain staters
of various typs may have been minted as early as 650 BC:
http://ancient-coin-forum.com/ancien..._origin_of_coi
ns_to_croesus.htm

This is an interesting excerpt from a book published in 2000, which puts forth
the idea that electrum coins prior to 648 BC
were melted by Croesus and refined into pure gold and silver. They use a date
of 626 - 648 for the electrum coins:
http://www.icu-cdnx.com/name_logo.htm

Of course, no explanation of ancient coinage would be complete without comment
from
Mr Harlan J Berk. Berk states that the lion staters were minted from about 650
BC, and
that the electrum issued prior are what he considers the world's first coins:
http://www.harlanjberk.com/departmen.../GreekGold.htm

There's a lot more on the subject. Google is your friend, although apparently
not Mr Goldsborough's.
--
mark