Tetradrachm Imitation of Alexander III of Macedon

Celtic coinages derived from Alexander's tetradrachms spread across Central Europe through a combination of trade contact and mercenary service — thousands of Celtic soldiers fought in Hellenistic armies and returned home with Macedonian silver in their purses. What followed was not straightforward copying but a progressive stylistic dissolution, each generation of dies moving further from the Greek prototype until the original imagery became nearly abstract. This particular early phase of imitation still retains enough fidelity to its source to be datable to the first half of the third century.