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!
Stater
| Issuer | Kyzikos (Mysia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 400 BC - 350 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Electrum |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Deep quadripartite incuse square occupying the full reverse field, divided into four roughly equal recessed compartments by a raised cross-shaped ridge, characteristic of early Archaic Greek electrum coinage struck by the incuse punch technique. The individual quarters display irregular granular textures resulting from the hammering process. No legend or additional device is present; the stark geometric composition is entirely typical of Kyzikene electrum staters of this period. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Kyzikos was the dominant source of electrum coinage in the Greek world throughout the fifth and fourth centuries, and its staters functioned as a de facto international trade currency across the Aegean and Black Sea regions. The city's electrum was natural alloy sourced from river deposits, giving each issue a slightly variable gold-to-silver ratio — a fact ancient merchants understood and priced accordingly. Athenian naval accounts and temple treasuries both record Kyzikenoi as a standard unit of reckoning.
The Von Fritze corpus remains the essential reference, though attribution of individual dies continues to be revised as new specimens surface from the Pontic trade zone.