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Drachm with cross, early series with lunulae comma-shaped wicks, floret, point
| Issuer | Volcæ Tectosages (Gallia Narbonensis) |
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| Year | 240 BC - 190 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Celticized male head facing left, rendered in a stylized La Tène artistic tradition. The hair is arranged into three prominent conch shell-like coiled curls framing the face, with additional pellet and linear ornamental details visible in the field. The facial features are boldly modeled with a pronounced eye rendered as a raised pellet within an almond-shaped outline. A beaded border partially surrounds the design on the flan. |
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| Reverse description | A quadripartite cruciform design divides the reverse into four quarters, characteristic of the Volcae Tectosages coinage tradition. Two opposing quarters each contain a crescent (lunula), while the remaining two opposing quarters bear a crescent-with-pellet and a lis-with-bar motif respectively. The overall composition reflects a highly stylized abstraction of the Massalian prototype, with the design elements distributed symmetrically across the four sections of the field. |
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| Additional information |
The Volcae Tectosages occupied the region around Tolosa (modern Toulouse) and controlled one of the ancient world's more consequential accumulations of sacred gold — the so-called "gold of Toulouse" looted from Delphi, which Strabo later claimed cursed every Roman who touched it. Their silver coinage emerged under direct influence of Massalian drachms, itself derived from Phocaean Greek prototypes, as Greek colonial trade penetrated the Narbonensis corridor well before Roman annexation in 121 BC.
The lunulae and floret punctuation elements distinguishing this early series from later Tectosagian issues are diagnostic markers that numismatists use to sequence the tribe's coinage chronologically — the comma-shaped wicks in particular appearing only in the earliest phase.