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Obol Karlsteiner Art Type
| Issuer | Kingdom of Noricum |
|---|---|
| Year | 200 BC - 1 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 8 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A stylized horse prancing to the left, rendered in the schematic Celtic idiom with a compact, bulbous body and elongated, curvilinear legs in mid-stride. Above the horse's back, a small cluster of three pellets is visible in the upper field, a decorative element characteristic of the Karlsteiner Art group. Diagonal lines appear to the right of the animal, possibly representing an abstracted torque or ground line. No legend or inscription is present; the entire design vocabulary is purely pictorial and executed in the abbreviated, geometric style typical of Norican Celtic coinage. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Norican kingdom, centered in the eastern Alps, maintained a sophisticated silver coinage tradition that drew heavily from Macedonian prototypes before developing its own distinctly Celtic idiom. These small fractional pieces circulated alongside larger units in a regional economy built largely around iron extraction and trade — Norican steel was prized across the Mediterranean world and explicitly mentioned by Roman authors including Ovid and Horace.
The Karlsteiner type designation derives from findspot concentrations near the Karlstein area of Austria, where hoards have helped establish the typological sequence Kostial used to organize this series.