Stater

Kyzikos, the Propontine city that dominated electrum coinage from roughly the sixth through fourth centuries BC, produced staters in a quantity and consistency unmatched by any other Greek mint of the period. The city's issues were accepted as a de facto international currency across the Black Sea and Aegean trading networks, which is precisely why so many survive — they circulated widely but were also hoarded deliberately as stores of value.

The electrum used by Kyzikene authorities was notably consistent in fineness, a quality that sustained the coinage's commercial credibility for generations. The tuna fish, a civic emblem tied to the city's fishing economy, appears as an authenticating device on virtually the entire series — its presence on this piece confirming the issue within the Haeberlin and Leu classification framework.