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Tetradrachm Puppenreiter Type
| Issuer | Uncertain Eastern European Celts |
|---|---|
| Year | 300 BC - 201 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Prancing horse moving to the right in the 'Puppenreiter' (doll-rider) type, with a highly stylized, abstract rider or cult figure seated upon its back, rendered as a schematic anthropomorphic form with a bell- or cup-shaped torso and flanking serpentine appendages. Above the horse's back, a flame-like or torch motif rises between the rider's elements. Below the horse's raised foreleg and to the right, a geometric symbol composed of dotted globules in an angular arrangement appears alongside additional abstract devices. A dotted exergual line runs along the lower border of the field. The Greek letter Pi (Π) appears as a control mark or mint symbol to the right of the horse. The entire composition reflects the characteristic Celtic transformation of the Macedonian Philip II tetradrachm reverse type into an increasingly abstract, ritualistic design. |
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| Mintage | ND (300 BC - 201 BC) |
| Additional information |
The "Puppenreiter" — literally "doll rider" — designation reflects the extreme schematization that Celtic die-cutters applied to Macedonian prototypes over successive generations of copying. Philip II's original horseman, rendered with anatomical precision in the Hellenistic tradition, was progressively abstracted by Celtic craftsmen who either lacked access to fresh prototype coins or were deliberately departing from them. By this stage of degradation, the figure retains almost no figurative coherence.
Attribution to a specific tribe remains unresolved. The eastern Celtic monetary zone during this period spanned communities from the Carpathian Basin into the Balkans, and die links across find sites have not produced consensus on a single issuing group.