Ancient Archaic Period - 500-400 BCE Achaemenid Persian Empire AV Daric, NGC Choice F

ACHAEMENID PERSIA. Darius I-Xerxes II (circa 5th century BC). AV Daric, NGC Choice Fine. Strike: 4/5 – Surface: 4/5. Lydo-Milesian standard. Sardes mint, circa 485-420 BC. The obverse presents the image of a Persian king, wearing cidaris and candys, holding a quiver over his shoulder, in kneeling-running stance facing right.  His drapery is in angular form from left knee to ground,  his right knee obscured by drapery, transverse spear in right hand, bow forward in left. The reverse has an irregular rectangular incuse punch. 

Ruins of the ancient city of Sardes in Asia Minor, where this coin was struck in the city mint. Photo: wikimedia.org.

This coin is a Persian Daric, a gold coin which, along with the silver Siglos, represents the bimetal coinage of its era. Cyrus the Great introduced coins to the Persian Empire after 546 BC. It was Darius I (521-486 BC) who introduced a thick gold coin with a standard weight of 8.4 grams that equaled the value of 20 silver coins. The Daric presents an image of the Persian king holding a bow in his left hand and a spear in his right. He appears to be wearing a crown upon his head. The gold employed for striking these coins was high grade: it had a purity of 95.83 percent.