Stater

Kyzikos, the Propontic city on the southern shore of the Marmara, dominated electrum coinage production in the Greek world for much of the sixth and fifth centuries BC. Its staters functioned as an international trade currency accepted far beyond local markets — finds have turned up across the Black Sea littoral, the Aegean, and into the Persian-controlled interior. The city's control over both the tuna fishery and key overland routes gave it the commercial reach to sustain that monetary role.

The electrum itself was not a natural alloy but artificially blended, with Kyzikene staters consistently alloyed to roughly 70% gold.