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Stater
| Issuer | Kyzikos |
|---|---|
| Year | 550 BC - 450 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Electrum Stater (1) |
| 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 |
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| Obverse description | A forepart of a griffin facing left in high relief occupies the central field, rendered with bold archaic plasticity characteristic of Kyzikene coinage of the late Archaic period. The creature displays a prominent hooked beak, a raised flame-like crest or horn atop the head, and powerful forelegs with extended talons. The body is compact and muscular, with the haunches and tail visible to the right. A small tunny fish, the emblematic device of Kyzikos, appears beneath the griffin in the lower field. The entire design is contained within the broad, slightly irregular flan typical of hammered electrum staters from this mint. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Mint | Kyzikos (Mysia) |
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| Additional information |
Kyzikos, positioned on the southern shore of the Propontis, became one of the ancient world's most prolific producers of electrum coinage precisely because it controlled access to Propontic trade routes connecting the Aegean to the Black Sea. The city's staters circulated not as local currency but as a trusted international trading medium — accepted from Thrace to Persia — a function made possible by their remarkably consistent weight standard maintained across centuries of production.
Each Kyzikene stater carries a unique obverse type, a deliberate minting policy that makes the series one of the most varied in all of Greek numismatics. The reverse tunny fish is the one constant, marking civic identity across an otherwise kaleidoscopic output. Greenwell 144 and Von Fritze 101 place this piece within the archaic phase of the series.