MYSIA. Cyzicus. Ca. 550-450 BC. EL 1/12 stater or hemihecte (9mm, 1.35 gm). NGC Choice AU S 5/5 - 4/5. Nude youth kneeling left, holding tunny fish by the tail in right hand, left arm resting on thigh / Quadripartite mill-sail incuse square. Greenwell -, cf. 86 (stater). Von Fritze I 112. SNG France 5 -, cf. 252 (sixth-stater). A beautiful piece with a sunny golden flan and a gentle, subdued luster. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica, Auction 132 (30 May 2022), lot 295; Classical Numismatic Group, Triton VI (14 January 2003), lot 306. 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 a 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. HID09801242017 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

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