Stater circa 400-350, EL 18 mm, 15.98 g. Nike kneeling l., holding aphlaston in r. hand; below, tunny- fish l. Rev. Quadripartite square incuse. von Fritze 154 and pl. 5, 2. Kappeli-Berger, Kunstwerke der antike, 24 (this coin). SNG France 301. Very rare and in unusually fine condition for this difficult issue, among the finest specimens in private hands. Good very fine Ex M&M VIII, 1949, 838 and NGSA 7, 2012, 75 sales. From the Robert Käppeli (1900-2000) collection. Cyzicus was a critical center for Greek coin production in northwestern Asia Minor. Although most cities had abandoned the use of electrum as an alloy for coinage by the mid-sixth century BC, Cyzicus continued to produce a vast array of staters and fractions in electrum down to the last decades of the fourth century BC. Finds of Cyzicene staters in the Black Sea region and a decree from Olbia regulating the value of the local coinage in relation to the Cyzicene stater suggest that the coins were struck for use in the Black Sea grain trade. As the indigenous grain producers of the Black Sea region had come to expect payment in electrum early on, electrum coins were needed to sustain the trade, even though the rest of the Greek world had moved on from this alloy. As Cyzicus was located on the Hellespontine shipment route for ships coming and going from the Black Sea, it took up the job of continuing electrum coin production. Some 207 individual types and varieties of Cyzicene electrum coins have been catalogued, but almost all of them include the badge of the city—a tunny (tuna) fish—as an adjunct symbol or incorporated into the main design. The depiction of Nike on this stater is a rare example of a historical type in the Cyzicene electrum series. She is shown here holding an aphlaston, the curved ornament on the prow of ancient galleys that was traditionally cut off defeated ships as a trophy of victory. Since the type obviously refers to a naval victory and it is on a Cyzicene coin, it is generally believed that the victory in question is that of the Battle of Cyzicus in 410 BC. This important battle late in the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) saw the Athenian fleet, under the command of the devious Alcibiades, rout the Peloponnesian fleet, commanded by the Spartan general Mindarus, in the waters before the harbor of Cyzicus. In the aftermath of the Athenian victory, Cyzicus, which had previously supported the Spartans, surrendered without a fight, thereby giving the Athenians control of the Hellespont and the Black Sea grain supply critical for Athens’ survival. Mindarus was killed in the fighting, and the Spartans who escaped total destruction found themselves stranded in western Asia Minor. A letter from the defeated Spartans was captured by the Athenians as it traveled to Sparta. Written in typical laconic style, it expressed the deep distress of those who had survived the Athenian victory: “The ships are gone. Mindarus is dead. The men are starving. We know not what to do.” In response, the demoralized Spartan government sent an embassy to Athens to make peace, but the Athenians refused to negotiate. As it turned out, this was a critical mistake. Sparta recovered and rebuilt its fleet with Persian financial assistance, and in 405 inflicted a crushing defeat on the Athenians at Aegospotami, ending the war in Spartan triumph. Please find here the video of the coin