Stater

Lampsakos, positioned on the Asian shore of the Hellespont, issued electrum coinage at a moment of acute political instability — the city was under Persian suzerainty during the Ionian Revolt, the coordinated Greek uprising against Achaemenid rule that ultimately collapsed with the fall of Miletus in 494 BC. Whether this stater was struck before or after Persian forces reasserted control is genuinely difficult to determine, and the date range itself reflects that uncertainty.

Electrum from Lampsakos was never minted to a consistent natural alloy; the city's issues show deliberate adjustment of gold-to-silver ratios, suggesting a mint aware of — and manipulating — its own monetary output.