Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 372. Estimate $10000.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $10000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MYSIA, Kyzikos. Circa 334 BC. EL Stater (16.02 gm, 12h). Eleutheria seated left on rock, holding wreath in right hand; tunny below, ELEU-QERI in two lines on rock / Quadripartite incuse square. Von Fritze I 215; Greenwell 3; Traité pl. CLXXIV, 37; Boston MFA -; SNG France 345; BMC Mysia -; SNG Copenhagen -; SNG von Aulock -. Good VF, toned. Extremely rare. ($10,000)

From the William and Louise Fielder Collection.

This specimen is perhaps the most historically important stater in the entire series as it is the only stater from Kyzikos to bear an inscription, and it is this inscription, 'Eleutheria" (Freedom) that makes clear the intent of the type: to celebrate a liberation. Several different victories have been suggested, but the presence of a coin of this type in the Prinkipo Hoard, buried circa 334 BC, in conjunction with gold staters of Philip II, clearly suggests that the victory in question is Alexander's first defeat of the Persians at the river Granikos in 334 BC. The Granikos was located just to the south and west of Kyzikos, and Alexander's victory liberated Kyzikos from Persian control. Thus, not only is this a very rare stater from Kyzikos, it also represents the first coin struck as a direct result of Alexander's campaign to conquer the world, predating even Alexander's own coinage

See lot 366 for more information on the electrum coinage of Kyzikos.