Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Hemihekte
| Issuer | Kyzikos (Mysia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 450 BC - 330 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| 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 |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | An eagle depicted in right-facing profile with head turned to the left, standing upon a tunny fish oriented to the left, the entire device contained within a raised circular border forming a shallow disc. The composition is characteristic of Kyzikene electrum coinage, where the tunny fish serves as a civic badge of the city. The relief is bold and the style reflects confident archaic to early classical Greek engraving. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A quadripartite incuse square divided into four recessed compartments of unequal depth by two intersecting raised ridges, creating a windmill or mill-sail pattern typical of early Greek hammered coinage. The incuse fields show irregular surface texture consistent with hand striking on an anvil die. No legends or additional devices are present in the field. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Kyzikos maintained one of the ancient world's most remarkable monetary franchises for nearly two centuries, issuing electrum coinage that circulated across the Black Sea and Aegean trade networks with a reliability few city-states could match. The city's issues were so trusted that they functioned as an international trading currency far beyond Mysian territory, accepted by merchants who may never have set foot in the city itself.
The Von Fritze corpus, published in 1912, remains the foundational reference for Kyzikene electrum — no comprehensive replacement has superseded it.