This coin was minted between 500 and 450 BC in Cyzicus, a town situated on the Sea of Marmora. From the 6th well into the 4th century BC, Cyzicus had a large output of coins.
The continuity and the high quality as well as the intensive production of electron staters made Cyzicus a hub of Greek trading. Located in a strategically favorable position at the entrance to the Marmora Sea, the town owed its wealth to a great extent to trade with the rich agricultural regions of Crimea. Accordingly, the main trading currency in the region of the Black Sea was the Cyzicus stater. But Cyzicus issued small change as well: this coin is a hecte, the sixth part of a stater.