Stater

Kyzikos dominated the electrum stater trade throughout the fifth century BC to a degree that is difficult to overstate — the Kyzikene stater functioned as the de facto hard currency of Black Sea commerce for well over a century, accepted from the Pontic grain ports to the Aegean emporia without the kind of city-to-city negotiation that other regional coinages required. The city's position on the Propontis made it the unavoidable transit point for northbound and southbound traffic alike.

Each Kyzikene stater was struck to its own obverse type, which is why the series generates such an extensive scholarly catalog — Von Fritze identified hundreds of distinct issues. No two dies share an obverse design, a minting practice unique to Kyzikos among major Greek producers.