Lot 4358
Mysia, Kyzikos. Electrum Stater (16.0g) struck ca. 500-450 BC. Winged dog seated left, its head reverted; below, tunny fish left. Reverse: Quadripartite incuse square. V. Fritze 104; Boston MFA 1433. The winged dog very well centered for the type. Toned. Extremely Rare and the best of the handful of known examples. Choice Very Fine.
Thanks to her strategic position at the entrance to the Black Sea, Kyzikos knew great prosperity, a wealth reflected in its extensive series of electrum staters produced from 550 to 350 BC depicting a rich array of types, many mythological. During this period, it was not uncommon for the Kyzikene celators to add wings to non-alate animals that would be depicted on the coinage. This practice is also seen on the coins of Mytilene and Phokaia. Today we are presented with a curious menagerie: winged boars and lions, less frequently winged stags and winged bulls. Most unusual, though, is the winged dog portrayed here and possibly unique to Kyzikos.
Counter-balancing this singular creature, is the tunny, the symbol of the city and a unifying common theme throughout its electrum coinage. Shoals of these large, fatty and nutrition-rich fish constantly passed through the Propontis on their way from the Euxine to the Aegean Sea. An essential part of the Kyzikene economy, tunny was also one of the most important foods in the ancient Mediterranean diet and its use as a symbol on the far-travelled Kyzikene coinage would clearly have had great propaganda value.
Estimated Value $20,000 - 25,000.
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