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Tetradrachm Pticie Type
| Issuer | Uncertain Central European Celts |
|---|---|
| Year | 300 BC - 101 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Celticized male head facing right, derived from the Macedonian prototype of Philip II or Alexander III, rendered in the characteristic La Tène abstract style. The hair is depicted as a mass of deeply incised, flowing strands or pellet-tipped locks radiating from the crown, with a prominent wreath or diadem element visible above the brow. Facial features are boldly schematized: a large bulbous nose, pronounced chin, and stylized eye rendered as a raised pellet or arc. The neck is articulated with curved relief lines, and the overall treatment reflects the progressive Celtic abstraction of its Hellenistic prototype. |
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| Mintage | ND (300 BC - 101 BC) |
| Additional information |
The "Pticie" type — named from the Slovenian word for birds, after the abstract avian forms that develop across the series — belongs to a cluster of Celtic imitative coinage derived ultimately from the Philip II Macedonian tetradrachm prototype. By the time pieces like this were struck, the ancestral design had been subjected to generations of Celtic reinterpretation, with each successive die-cutter working from a coin rather than a classical model, accelerating the abstraction with every iteration.
Attribution to a specific tribe remains unresolved. The type circulates through the archaeological record of the eastern Alpine zone and upper Adriatic hinterland, appearing in hoards alongside La Tène material.