MYSIA, Kyzikos. Circa 550-450 BC. EL Stater (20mm, 15.99 g). VF.

Triton XXVII
Lot: 224. Estimated: $ 1 500

Greek, Coin-in-Hand Video, Electrum

Sold For $ 6 000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Go to Live

MYSIA, Kyzikos. Circa 550-450 BC. EL Stater (20mm, 15.99 g). Head of goat with long beard left; to right, tunny upwards / Quadrapartite incuse square. Von Fritze I 48; Greenwell 134; Boston MFA 1421 = Warren 1560; SNG BN 186; BMC 88; Gulbenkian –; Jameson 1410. Faint scuff on obverse. VF. Well centered.

The celebrated electrum coinage of Kyzikos began in the second half of the sixth century, but is at its most varied and interesting during the classical period. These staters were regarded as gold coins and circulated throughout a large area along with the gold darics of Persian Empire. On all of the coins of Kyzikos, large or small, was engraved the tunny-fish (θυννος), which constituted an important part of the Kyzikene economy. The orator Aristotelis, in the second century BC, stated the following in his speech regarding the people of Kyzikos: “It is enough for one just to glance at the location and the nature of this city to immediately understand that the name ‘blissful’ given to it by God was factual, so convenient is its land and its sea. As it is built in front of Asia Minor and since its dominion extends from the Black Sea to the Hellespont, Kyzikos joins the two seas together or rather all the seas that man navigates. Thus, ships continuously pass by or arrive at the harbor or depart from the harbor. Justly it should be called ‘blissful’ just as is Corinth because, as it is built in the mid part of the seas, it joins, as if it was the center of the world, all men who sail the Mediterranean from Gibraltar to Kolchis at the far side of the Black Sea.”

The final winners of all Triton XXVII lots will be determined at the live public sale that will be held on 9-10 January 2024.

Triton XXVII – Session One – Lot 1-337 will be held Tuesday morning, 9 January 2024 beginning at 9:00 AM ET.

Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.

We recognize that our users may have various Internet Browsers and Operating Systems. We like our visitors to have the best possible experience when using our bidding platform. However, we do recognize that it is impossible to develop applications that work identically, efficiently and effectively on all web browsers. The CNG bidding platform supports the latest stable major version and stable previous version of Chrome and Firefox.