Catalog
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| Issuer | Bituriges Cubi |
|---|---|
| Year | 80 BC - 50 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Celticized schematic head facing left, rendered in the La Tène artistic tradition with stylized swirling hair locks depicted as raised curved lines radiating around the cranium. The facial features are highly abstracted, with the eye, nose, and jaw reduced to geometric relief elements. The flan is irregular and slightly convex, characteristic of cast potin production. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Bituriges Cubi, centered around Avaricum (modern Bourges), were among the Gallic tribes most devastated by Caesar's campaigns — Avaricum's sack in 52 BC resulted in the massacre of nearly 40,000 inhabitants according to Caesar's own account. Potin coinage of this tribe would have circulated through precisely that catastrophe, and examples surviving in any condition carry that chronological weight whether the metal shows it or not.
Potin — a cast tin-lead-copper alloy — was a distinctly Gallic monetary solution, produced by casting rather than striking. The DT 3504 classification places this firmly within a well-documented regional type, though cast potin pieces frequently show surface porosity and minor casting flaws inherent to the production method itself.