1/4 Stater

These fractional electrum pieces were struck to finance Carthage's military operations during the First Punic War — a conflict that lasted 23 years and ultimately cost Carthage its naval dominance in the western Mediterranean. The alloy composition, notably leaner in gold than earlier Carthaginian electrum, reflects deliberate debasement under wartime fiscal pressure rather than any natural variation in source metal.

The war ended with the Treaty of Lutatius in 241 BC, after which Carthage faced the catastrophic Mercenary War when it could not pay its demobilized troops — coins like this one were precisely the wages in arrears that sparked that revolt.