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Stater - Lysimachos Kolchis imitation
| Issuer | Bastarnae Celto-Scythians |
|---|---|
| Year | 100 BC - 100 AD |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Stylized, degenerate effigy of Alexander the Great facing right, diademed and wearing the horn of Ammon, rendered in a bold Celtic barbaric style. The hair is depicted as a series of deeply punched pellets and sweeping curved lines radiating from the head. The facial features — eye, nose, and chin — are rendered in a schematic, abstracted manner characteristic of Celto-Scythian die-cutting. The field is plain, with the flan exhibiting the irregular, slightly convex surfaces typical of hand-struck hammered coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | ΛΕ |
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| Additional information |
The Bastarnae occupied a contested corridor between the Carpathians and the Black Sea steppe, and their gold staters imitating Lysimachos coinage reflect sustained exposure to Hellenistic monetary culture rather than any formal adoption of it. Lysimachos had been dead for nearly two centuries by the time these pieces were struck, yet his coin type remained the prestige gold unit across the northern Pontic periphery — copied by successive tribal groups long after its political origins were irrelevant to anyone producing it.
Kolchis imitations form a distinct regional sub-group within the broader Lysimachos imitative series, typically showing progressive stylistic degradation across issues — useful for relative sequencing even where absolute dates remain approximate.