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Electrum was used as early as the third millennium BC in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, sometimes as an exterior coating to the pyramidia atop ancient Egyptian pyramids and obelisks. It was also used in the making of ancient drinking vessels. The first known metal coins made were of electrum, dating back to the end of the 7th century or the beginning of the 6th century BC.
Etymology
The name electrum is the Latinized form of the ancient Greek word ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron), meaning amber or an alloy of gold and silver. Electrum was often referred to as "white gold" in ancient times.
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Composition
Electrum consists primarily of gold and silver but is sometimes found with traces of platinum, copper, and other metals. The term is mostly used informally for compositions containing 20–80% gold and 80–20% silver, but these are strictly called gold or silver, respectively, depending on the dominant element. Analysis of the composition of electrum in ancient Greek coinage dating from about 600 BC shows that the gold content was about 55.5% in the coinage issued by Phocaea. In the early classical period, the gold content of electrum ranged from 46% in Phocaea to 43% in Mytilene. In later coinage from these areas, dating to 326 BC, the gold content averaged 40% to 41%. In the Hellenistic period, electrum coins with a regularly decreasing proportion of gold were issued by the Carthaginians. In the later Eastern Roman Empire, which was controlled from Constantinople, the purity of the gold coinage was reduced.
History
Electrum is mentioned in an account of an expedition sent by Pharaoh Sahure of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt. It is also discussed by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia.
Early coinage
The earliest known electrum coins, Lydian coins and East Greek coins found under the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, are currently dated to the first half of the 7th century BC (c.650 BC). Electrum is believed to have been used in coins c. 650-575BC in Lydia during the reign of Alyattes.
Electrum was much better for coinage than gold, mostly because it was harder and more durable, but also because techniques for refining gold were not widespread at the time. The gold content of naturally occurring electrum in modern western Anatolia ranges from 70% to 90%, in contrast to the 45–55% of gold in electrum used in ancient Lydian coinage of the same geographical area. This suggests that the Lydians had already developed silver-refining technology and were adding refined silver to local native electrum some decades before introducing pure silver coins.
In Lydia, electrum was minted into coins weighing 4.7 grams (0.17 oz), each valued at 1⁄3 stater (meaning "standard"). Three of these coins—with a weight of about 14.1 grams (0.50 oz)—totaled one stater, about one month's pay for a soldier. To complement the stater, fractions were made: the trite (third), the hekte (sixth), and so forth, including 1⁄24 of a stater, and even down to 1⁄48 and 1⁄96 of a stater. The 1⁄96 stater was about 0.14 grams (0.0049 oz) to 0.15 grams (0.0053 oz). Larger denominations, such as a one-stater coin, were also minted.
Because of variation in the composition of electrum, it was difficult to determine the exact worth of each coin. This problem hampered widespread trading, as the "intrinsic" metallic value of each electrum coin could not be easily determined.
These difficulties were eliminated c. 570 BC when the Croeseids, coins of pure gold and silver, were introduced. However, electrum currency remained common until approximately 350 BC. The simplest reason for this was that, because of the gold content, one 14.1 gram stater was worth as much as ten 14.1 gram silver pieces.