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!
Gold Stater with hippocampus
| Issuer | Veneti (Gaulish tribe, Armorica) |
|---|---|
| Year | 100 BC - 70 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Gold |
| 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 | Highly stylized Celticized head facing right, rendered in the characteristic La Tène artistic tradition with abstract, curvilinear features. Surmounting the head is a hippocampus oriented to the right, a distinctive motif of the Veneti coinage. The surrounding field is animated by sinuous pearl strings that flow organically around the central devices, terminating in small Celticized subsidiary heads, emphasizing the intricate horror vacui aesthetic typical of Armorican Celtic die engravers. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A severely devolved charioteer drives a biga to the right, holding the reins in the left hand while the right hand grasps a long branch connected to a vexillum-like standard device positioned to the right — a vestigial survival of the classical Greek stater prototype. Below the horse team, a winged figure is depicted in flight to the right, a recurring apotropaic motif on Veneti gold staters. The composition is executed in a highly abstracted Celticized style, with the original Hellenistic chariot scene reduced to its essential symbolic elements within the coin's field. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information | Log in to see details |