Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Auction 123 23-24 May 2023
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MYSIA, Kyzikos. Circa 600-550 BC. EL Hekte – Sixth Stater (10mm, 2.70 g). Head of tunny left, with tunny upward in its mouth / Quadripartite incuse square. Cf. Hurter & Liewald 24.1 (hemihekte); Von Fritze I –; Boston MFA –; SNG BN –; Numismatik Naumann 71, lot 138; Obolos 5, lot 294 = Helios 2, lot 140; Pecunem 39, lot 269. Good VF. Well centered. Extremely rare as a hekte, apparently the fourth, and finest, known.
The celebrated electrum coinage of Kyzikos began in the first half of the sixth century BC, and from the beginning the coinage was notable for the variety and inventiveness of its designs. These staters and fractions were regarded as gold coins and circulated throughout a large area along with the gold darics of the Persian Empire. On all of the coins of Kyzikos, large or small, was engraved the tunny-fish (θυννος), which constituted an important product in the Kyzikene economy. This intriguing electrum hekte depicting two tunnies, one in the mouth of another, is among the earliest struck.
The celebrated electrum coinage of Kyzikos began in the first half of the sixth century BC, and from the beginning the coinage was notable for the variety and inventiveness of its designs. These staters and fractions were regarded as gold coins and circulated throughout a large area along with the gold darics of the Persian Empire. On all of the coins of Kyzikos, large or small, was engraved the tunny-fish (θυννος), which constituted an important product in the Kyzikene economy. This intriguing electrum hekte depicting two tunnies, one in the mouth of another, is among the earliest struck.