Progressing on through this series, we have landed at our next entry which is ranked at #75. Again, we remind you that our journey covering Whitman Publishing’s third edition of the 100 Greatest Ancient Coins will be different than all the rest as we will maintain the order in which the book leads us with, starting with the earliest coins first. Harlan J. Berk takes the lead as we look back at coins that were the last of their kind in a world that had moved on compositionally. Let us look further.
#75 – Cyzicus Electrum Staters (Greece – Circa 520-340 BC)
The earliest Greek coins were made of electrum, but most city-states ditched the alloy in favor or pure silver. However, of the few that did not, Cyzicus was the most noteworthy. A rich trading city and considered the mother city to many Greek colonies on the coast of the Black Sea, Cyzicus is located on the waterway that connects the Aegean to the Black Sea.
They had a considerable amount of circulated coinage featuring the electrum stater as they were struck from 520 to 340 BC. These coins appear to have been struck differently each year as a different obverse appears. They were stuck on thick flans with a four-part incuse reverse. More than 180 types of staters are recorded from the city of Cyzicus, including the rarely used tunny, or tuna fish, which is the badge of the city. A smaller number of 1/6 staters known as hektes were used as well.
When the series initially began, the most consistent symbol featured on the coins was the tunny. There is one earlier stater that shows a winged tunny as there was a long period of time when both real animals and mythological animals appeared with the tunny fish. The series after that depicts humans both real and mythological but always with the tunny at the bottom. The figures may be resting on the fish. In rare examples, they are holding it by the tail.