Drachm Sattelkopfpferd type

These coins are Dacian imitations of the Macedonian tetradrachm of Philip II, copied and recopied so many times across generations that the original imagery degraded into near-abstraction. The "Sattelkopfpferd" — saddle-head horse — takes its name from the distinctive schematic animal that emerged from successive die-copying, the equine form reduced to a geometric silhouette unrecognizable from its prototype.

Attribution to specific tribes remains impossible. Hoards from Transylvania and the Carpathian basin have produced these in quantity, but the issuing authority behind any individual piece is unknown.