Stater Type "au quadrilatère et à la lyre"

The Arverni controlled the mineral-rich highlands of what is now the Auvergne, and their gold coinage drew on alluvial sources from the rivers of the Massif Central. This type takes its name from the rectangular incuse on the reverse — a feature inherited from early Macedonian and Alexandrine prototypes that Celtic die-cutters progressively abstracted over successive generations of striking.

The Arverni were the most powerful tribe in Gaul before the Roman conquest, a status confirmed by Caesar's account of their paramount king Vercingetorix. Coins of this type predate that conflict by at least a century in their earliest issues.