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!
Didrachm Kugelwange Type
| Issuer | Uncertain Eastern European Celts |
|---|---|
| Year | 300 BC - 201 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Celticised laureate and bearded male head facing right, rendered in the characteristic Kugelwange ('ball-cheek') style with prominent rounded cheek modelled as a bold pellet. The hair is depicted as flowing, schematised locks arranged in stylised waves, and a laurel wreath is indicated above the brow. The overall treatment reflects the La Tène artistic tradition, abstracting the Hellenistic prototype into geometric and curvilinear Celtic forms. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| 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 | ND (300 BC - 201 BC) |
| Additional information |
The "Kugelwange" — literally "ball cheek" in German — designation comes from the distinctive die-cutting convention used by Celtic engravers working in the eastern Balkans, who interpreted and progressively abstracted the Philip II Macedonian prototype over successive die generations until facial anatomy became a series of geometric volumes. This is not degradation through ignorance but a deliberate aesthetic transformation. The attribution to "uncertain eastern European Celts" reflects genuine scholarly disagreement about whether production centers were located in the middle Danube basin or further east toward the Carpathians.