Catalog
Potin with Indian head
| Issuer | Remi |
|---|---|
| Year | 180 BC - 150 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Cast |
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| Obverse description | Stylized head facing right in the so-called 'Indian' Celtic manner, rendered in a schematic and abstracted style characteristic of Belgic potin coinage. The hair is depicted as a series of curved, rope-like strands radiating from the crown and falling behind the neck. Facial features are summarily indicated, with a prominent eye, broad nose, and angular jaw visible through the heavy patination. The flan is irregular and slightly convex, consistent with the cast production technique. No legend or inscription is present. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | ND (180 BC - 150 BC) |
| Additional information |
The Remi were a Belgic tribe occupying the territory around modern Reims, and their potin coinage represents some of the earliest cast — rather than struck — currency produced in northeastern Gaul. The so-called "Indian head" type takes its name from 19th-century collectors who saw resemblance to contemporary American imagery, a label that stuck despite having no iconographic relevance to the actual prototype, which derives from Mediterranean coin types filtered through generations of Gaulish abstraction.
Potin itself — a tin-rich bronze alloy — was the dominant coinage medium among Belgic tribes precisely because it could be cast in clay moulds rather than requiring the infrastructure of a proper mint.