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Hekte
| Issuer | Kyzikos |
|---|---|
| Year | 500 BC - 450 BC |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | Von Fritze#126, SNG France#276, SNG Delepierre#2509, Greenwell#11, BostonMFA#1425, Gulbenkian#614, Jameson#2561 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A quadripartite incuse square dominates the reverse, divided by raised ridges into four recessed rectangular compartments of roughly equal size, characteristic of early archaic Greek coinage struck with a plain punch. The incuse is deeply impressed and shows the typical mill-sail or windmill pattern. At the lower left quadrant, a small subsidiary mark — possibly a tunny fish or control symbol — is visible in the field, consistent with Kyzikene hekte reverse types of this period. |
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| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Kyzikos (Mysia) |
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| Additional information |
Kyzikos dominated the electrum coinage market across the Greek world for roughly two centuries, with its hektes functioning as an international trade currency far beyond the Sea of Marmara. The city's control of tuna fishing grounds — the tunny appears repeatedly across the series as a mint identifier — underwrote the commercial confidence that made Kyzikene electrum acceptable from the Black Sea coast to Egypt. Athenian records and temple inventories from the fifth century list Kyzikene staters alongside Attic silver as standard units of account, a rare acknowledgment of a foreign coinage's reliability.