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Hekte
| Issuer | Kyzikos (Mysia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 550 BC - 450 BC |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 2.67 g |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Quadripartite incuse square divided into four recessed triangular sections by two intersecting diagonal grooves, forming a windmill or saltire pattern in deep relief. The incuse is sharply struck and occupies the majority of the reverse field, consistent with early Greek hammered coinage technique. The surface of the incuse compartments displays a slightly granular texture characteristic of the electrum hekte series from Kyzikos. |
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| Mint | Cyzicus, modern-day Kapıdağ Peninsula, Turkey |
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| Additional information |
Kyzikos was the dominant source of electrum coinage in the Greek world for much of the fifth and sixth centuries BC, and its hektai functioned as a trusted trade currency across the Black Sea littoral and into the Aegean. The city's natural access to electrum — an alloy occurring in local river deposits — gave it a production advantage that Athens and Corinth, working in silver, could not easily replicate in northern trade routes.
Von Fritze's classification of this series, published in 1912, remains the foundational reference; no comprehensive revision has superseded it.