Stater

Kyzikos, the Propontis city whose electrum staters functioned as an international trade currency across the Greek world for roughly two centuries, produced these coins in a natural alloy sourced from regional deposits rather than artificially blended metal — the gold-to-silver ratio varied meaningfully between issues. The city's monetary output was so trusted that Kyzikene staters appear in tribute lists, mercenary pay records, and hoards from Egypt to the Black Sea coast, a reach few civic coinages ever achieved.

The specific Von Fritze and Greenwell references place this piece within the earlier typological sequence, before the alloy composition began drifting toward higher silver content in the fifth century.