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Stater
| Issuer | Kyzikos |
|---|---|
| Year | 550 BC - 450 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 16.02 g |
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| Obverse description | Forepart of a winged stag advancing to the left, rendered in archaic Ionian style with crisp, detailed relief. A tunny fish is depicted to the right of the stag's forepart, oriented vertically with its head downward, serving as the characteristic civic badge of Kyzikos. The design occupies a broad, irregularly shaped flan typical of early electrum coinage, with the field left plain around the principal devices. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Quadripartite incuse square deeply impressed into the reverse flan, divided into four equal rectangular compartments by two intersecting raised ridges, characteristic of early Greek hammered coinage technique. The incuse punch is boldly struck and well-centered on the irregular flan, with the four recessed panels displaying a slightly uneven surface consistent with hand-struck production of the archaic period. No legends or additional devices are present. |
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| Additional information |
Kyzikos, the wealthy Propontic city on the southern shore of the Marmara, dominated electrum coinage in the Greek world for roughly two centuries, issuing an extraordinary variety of stater types that functioned as a trusted trade currency across the Aegean and Black Sea regions. The city's electrum was notoriously consistent in alloy — a reliability that made Kyzkene staters acceptable in transactions far outside their issuing authority's political reach.
The specific type documented by Von Fritze as #102 falls within the most prolific phase of Kyzikene production. Each reverse carries the characteristic tunny fish, the city's persistent identifier across virtually all its electrum issues.