Tetradrachm Imitation of Tetradrachm of Philip II of Macedon

Celtic silversmiths in the Danube basin began copying Philip II's tetradrachms shortly after Macedonian coinage flooded the region through mercenary payments and trade, but the process of transmission was anything but direct. Each successive die-cutter worked from coins already several generations removed from the Amphipolis originals, producing a cascade of stylistic drift that accelerated deliberately — these were not failed attempts at replication but a conscious local visual vocabulary developing in real time. By 250 BC, the prototype had been abstracted almost beyond recognition.