Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1/4 Stater bust facing left
| Issuer | Uncertain Gallia Belgica tribes |
|---|---|
| Year | 125 BC - 100 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Hammered |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Highly stylized Celticized head facing left, rendered in the abstract La Tène artistic tradition. The facial features are dissolved into a series of curvilinear lines and lenticular forms, with pronounced crescentic elements suggesting the brow, eye, and cheek. The hair is represented by flowing, comma-shaped strands radiating around the head. The overall composition fills the irregular flan with characteristic Celtic abstraction, retaining only the barest suggestion of a human effigy. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Celticized horse prancing left, its body and limbs rendered in the fluid, disjointed La Tène style characteristic of Belgic coinage. Above the horse, a highly abstracted charioteer figure is indicated by curvilinear elements. A stylized floral or rosette symbol composed of pellets appears in the lower field beneath the horse. The entire design is executed with bold, deeply struck lines that fill the flan, with additional pellet ornaments and abstract motifs scattered throughout the field. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The fractional staters produced by the tribes of Gallia Belgica in this period reflect a monetary system still heavily derivative of Macedonian prototypes — specifically the gold staters of Philip II, which flooded into Celtic territories through mercenary payments and trade from the mid-4th century onward. Over successive generations of copying, the original Hellenistic imagery degraded through stylization into forms barely recognizable as their source, a process that accelerated sharply in the 2nd century BC as local die-cutters worked increasingly from other Celtic coins rather than Greek originals.
Attribution to a specific tribe remains unresolved despite the extensive reference coverage this type has attracted.