Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3037 Sess. 2-4 5 January 2015
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Ancients
MYSIA. Cyzicus. Ca. 550-500 BC. EL stater (23mm, 15.99 gm). Boar standing left on tunny fish / Quadripartite incuse square. Von Fritze 90. Greenwell 136 and pl. V, 30. Very rare! Well centered and crisply struck on an oval flan. NGC XF★ 5/5 - 4/5.From The California Collection. Cyzicus was an important city on the northwestern coast of Anatolia, well positioned to take advantage of trade across and through the Sea of Marmara. Its coinage was in more or less continuous production from about 550 BC to circa AD 630, a nearly 1,200 year span unmatched by any other ancient mint. The tunny (tuna) fish was the symbol of Cyzicus from mid-6th century BC, when the city began striking electrum staters and fractions that circulated so widely the generic term for a stater became cyzicenus. The fishing trade was critical to the economy of Cyzicus and it is likely the tunny fish became a form of pre-coinage currency, which carried over to become a mint symbol after the invention of coinage in nearby Lydia.
Estimate: 20000-24000 USD
MYSIA. Cyzicus. Ca. 550-500 BC. EL stater (23mm, 15.99 gm). Boar standing left on tunny fish / Quadripartite incuse square. Von Fritze 90. Greenwell 136 and pl. V, 30. Very rare! Well centered and crisply struck on an oval flan. NGC XF★ 5/5 - 4/5.From The California Collection. Cyzicus was an important city on the northwestern coast of Anatolia, well positioned to take advantage of trade across and through the Sea of Marmara. Its coinage was in more or less continuous production from about 550 BC to circa AD 630, a nearly 1,200 year span unmatched by any other ancient mint. The tunny (tuna) fish was the symbol of Cyzicus from mid-6th century BC, when the city began striking electrum staters and fractions that circulated so widely the generic term for a stater became cyzicenus. The fishing trade was critical to the economy of Cyzicus and it is likely the tunny fish became a form of pre-coinage currency, which carried over to become a mint symbol after the invention of coinage in nearby Lydia.
Estimate: 20000-24000 USD