Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Tetradrachm Samobor B Type
| Issuer | East Noricum |
|---|---|
| Year | 200 BC - 1 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Hammered |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Stylized male head facing left, adorned with a three-strand pearl diadem rendered in the characteristic Celtic artistic idiom. The hair is depicted in bold, schematized locks radiating from the crown, with individual strands rendered as raised pellet-and-arc motifs typical of East Noric Celtic coinage. The facial features are abstracted, with a prominent eye rendered as a raised pellet and a strong, simplified jawline. The overall composition reflects the progressive Celticization of Hellenistic prototypes, with the naturalism of the original Greek model giving way to dynamic, decorative patterning. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A horse prancing vigorously to the left, rendered in an energetic Celtic style derived from Hellenistic equestrian prototypes. The mane is depicted as a sweeping arc of bold, stylized curls, and the body is robustly modeled with exaggerated musculature. The raised foreleg and extended hind legs convey a sense of dynamic motion, while pellet ornaments appear beneath the belly and near the hooves as decorative field elements. The tail arches upward in a characteristic East Noric convention, and the overall composition demonstrates the confident, abstracted aesthetic of the Samobor B type workshop. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
East Noricum, the Celtic kingdom occupying much of what is now Austria and Slovenia, produced a dense regional coinage in the final centuries BC — silver tetradrachms that circulated alongside Roman denarii as Roman influence progressively strangled indigenous monetary production. The Samobor B type takes its name from the Croatian town near which significant find concentrations have been recorded, suggesting a distribution network running south of the Sava River rather than clustering around the Noric heartland further north.
Kostial's classification remains the primary reference for Noric coinage taxonomy, though die studies on the Samobor group are incomplete.