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Since about 1950 the view that the earliest coins were struck in Lydia no earlier than the last third of the seventh century B.C. has gained influence and by now has reached the status of orthodoxy. Consequently, the dates of the earliest Greek coins have been moved down to a time after 600 B.C., and the ancient traditions connecting early Aiginetan coinage with Pheidon of Argos and a change in Athenian coinage with Solon are generally rejected. This article examines the archaeological, literary and numismatic evidence bearing on the dates of the earliest coins and arrives at different conclusions. It finds that, while certainty is not possible, all the evidence points to a date of about 700 B.C. for the earliest coins. Greek coins, therefore, could easily have been struck soon after, so there is no reason to reject the ancient traditions.
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