What is the name of the world’s first gold coins, minted by the Lydians? They were the Croeseids, also spelled Croeseids or Croeseid coins.
The coins were issued under Croesus, king of Lydia, around 550 BC. Croesus replaced earlier Lydian electrum coinage—a naturally occurring gold-and-silver alloy—with separate gold and silver issues of standardized purity. The gold coins are commonly called Croeseids after their ruler.
The distinction between electrum and gold matters. Lydians had struck electrum coins before Croesus, but electrum’s changing gold-to-silver ratio made its value difficult to judge. Croeseids provided a more predictable monetary standard and are widely credited as the first true gold coins intended for general circulation.
A Croeseid typically shows the foreparts of a lion and a bull on the front, with two incuse squares on the reverse. Later, the Achaemenid Persian rulers adopted the Lydian bimetallic system and continued minting Croeseid-style coins at Sardis.