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Stater
| Issuer | Kyzikos |
|---|---|
| Year | 380 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered, Incuse |
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| Obverse description | Youthful head of Pan in three-quarter face, turned to the right, wearing an ivy wreath; the goat's ear is rendered with fine detail at the side of the head. In the lower field beneath the bust, a tunny fish swimming to the right serves as the characteristic civic badge of Kyzikos. The portraiture displays the refined archaic-to-classical transitional style characteristic of Kyzikene electrum coinage, with careful attention to facial modeling and wreath detail. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Kyzikos, a Milesian colony on the Propontis, issued electrum staters continuously from the late archaic period through the mid-fourth century, making it one of the most prolific electrum-issuing mints in the Greek world. The city's position controlling trade routes between the Aegean and the Black Sea gave its coinage genuine transregional authority — Kyzikene staters appear in hoards from Egypt to the Ukrainian steppe. Each type was typically struck for a single issue and then retired, which is why the series runs to several hundred distinct reverse types over roughly two centuries.
The natural electrum used here derives from Lydian river deposits, and its gold content varies between specimens — a deliberate ambiguity the Kyzikenes apparently tolerated, since the coins traded by weight and reputation rather than guaranteed fineness.