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Tetradrachm Königsreiter Type

Issuer Uncertain Eastern European Celts
Year 300 BC - 201 BC
Type Standard circulation coin
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Obverse description Celticised laureate and bearded male head facing right, derived from the Macedonian prototype of Philip II. The hair is rendered in bold, schematised waves radiating from the wreath, and the beard is depicted with abstracted curling locks characteristic of Eastern Celtic die-cutting. A dotted border runs along the coin's edge. The facial features — prominent eye rendered as a raised pellet, exaggerated jaw, and sweeping hair — reflect the progressive Celtic abstraction of the Hellenistic archetype.
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Edge Plain
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Additional information

The "Königsreiter" (king's rider) types represent a broad family of Celtic silver coinage derived ultimately from the Philip II staters of Macedon, which flooded into central and eastern Europe through mercenary payments and trade after the mid-4th century BC. The specific imitative tradition behind this piece has been attributed to various tribal groups across the Carpathian basin and upper Danube corridor, with no consensus on a single issuer — hence the catalog designation "uncertain."

Göbl's classification system for Celtic coinage, from which the plate reference here derives, remains the foundational typological framework despite being published in the 1970s and contested on several points by subsequent hoards.

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