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The first thing tyrants do upon obtaining power is strike coins with their name and like-
ness, announcing their claim to their territory. And they continue to strike coins to main-
tain their claim until the day they die or are deposed. Everyday coinage is the primary
means by which tyrants notify their subjects and rivals of their tyranny. The focus of
the collection is tyrants of every age and culture. Tyrants go by many titles: Kings and
Queens, Emperors and Empresses, Czars and Czarinas, Dictators, Regents, Popes, Ca-
liphs, Sultans, and Khans. But what defines them is their absolute power over a territory
containing millions of people. Tyrants have been the primary shapers of history for
thousands of years.
Coins still exist for nearly every tyrant who ever ruled a substantial country for more
than a few weeks of the last two thousand years. The objective of The Tyrant Collection
is to obtain a coin for every tyrant who ruled every major country, preferably a large gold
coin with the tyrant’s name, likeness, and titles.
Coins were invented by Greeks on the Ionian coast of Turkey about 650BC. Their coins
were made of naturally occurring electrum found in river beds. Electrum is a natural
alloy of gold and silver in varying ratios. At first coins were just blobs of electrum with
a punch mark. We know they were coins because each one was an even fraction of a
stater (about 14 grams): 1, 1/3, 1/6, 1/12, 1/24, 1/48, 1/96. Later coins showed anab-
stract pattern on one side and a punch on the other. Still later ones showed animals and
sometimes a name.
In about 560BC, Croesus (Kroisos), the king of Lydia, who was tyrant over most of
modern Turkey, including the Ionian coast, was the richest man in the world. “As rich
as Croesus” became a common saying which is still used today. About 560BC, Croesus
revolutionized coinage by introducing the first pure gold and silver coins. Each coin
exhibits the head of a lion confronting the head of a bull. These became the standard
coins of the region.
When Croesus consulted the Oracle of Delphi about the wisdom of attacking the Persian
Empire, the oracle answered: “if you attack the Persians, you will destroy a great em-
pire.” So, in 547BC, Croesus attacked Persia and a great empire fell: his own. The Per-
sian king, Cyrus the Great, consequently added Lydia to his territory. Cyrus found the
concept of minting coins so intriguing and profitable that he expanded production and
introduced standardized denominations of gold and silver coins as the means of payment
throughout his great empire. This is how gold and silver coins of fixed denominations
came to dominate the commerce of the world for the next 2500 years and why Cyrus the
Great is the first tyrant represented in the “Tyrants of the Tigris & Euphrates” section of
this collection, which will be on display at the June Long Beach show.
The Tyrant Collection is divided into sections, one for each of the major civilizations
that issued coins for an extended period of time. Civilizations require access to water
for irrigation and transportation, so they tend to form around bodies of water, such as
rivers, lakes, or seas. Each section of the Tyrant Collection is named after the body of
water that it dominates. Different sections of The Tyrant Collection will be displayed at
upcoming Long Beach shows.