MYSIA. Kyzikos. Circa 600-550 BC. Trihemiobol (?) (Silver, 9 mm, 1.12 g). Head of a tunny to right; above, tunny right; to left, two pellets. Rev. Rough incuse square. BMC -. Klein -. Rosen 514. SNG Paris -. SNG von Aulock -. Von Fritze II -. Rare. Sharply struck and of powerful archaic style. Extremely fine.


The early silver coinage from Kyzikos is uniformely scarce: it was struck in the early days of the monetarization of the Greek society, when most of daily trade was still conducted through barter and there was therefore little demand for lower value denominations. Many of these early silver coins are weakly struck and poorly centered; attractive examples, such as ours, are actually surprisingly rare