Stater

Kyzikos, the Propontic city on the southern shore of the Sea of Marmara, dominated regional trade finance for well over a century through the mass production of electrum staters — a currency so trusted that Athenian banks and Black Sea merchants accepted them at fixed rates regardless of the natural variation in the gold-silver alloy. Unlike the coinage of most Greek cities, Kyzkene staters carried no fixed type: the main device changed with almost every issue, producing hundreds of distinct varieties while the reverse remained a constant incuse quadripartite punch.

The tuna on the exergue line, present across virtually the entire series, functioned as the Kyzikene mint's persistent authenticating signature.