Electrum The Gold-Ish Metal

It has long been known that, right from the very beginning, the "electrum" used to make the earliest Lydian coins was adulterated. Modern analysis techniques prove it.

Surviving naturally-occurring electrum nuggets found in the Pactolus River valley in what is now Turkey have a composition of about 75% gold, 25% silver and only trace amounts of copper. But the earliest "electrum" coins from that same area are consistently lower in gold content, measuring no better than 54% gold, 44% silver and 2% copper. Meaning that while the Lydian state myth was that natural river electrum nuggets were being melted and stamped directly with the king's seal to make coins, the coins weren't made of "pure" electrum.

And everyone back then knew it too, even without access to the fancy testing equipment we have today. The drop in faith of electrum-based coinage directly led to the refining and separation of electrum into those two metals and the invention of pure silver and pure gold coinages.

Since I don't collect ancients or read any of the associated literature, I know very little about this history except what I've heard from other collectors (some of whom are maybe not as well-read as I thought). I'd had the impression there was a "natural" electrum from which some early coins were made, and man-made debased gold.

I'm glad to have been set straight!