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Tetradrachm Svicca Type
| Issuer | West Noricum |
|---|---|
| Year | 100 BC - 1 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | Highly stylized Celtic rendering of a male head in the La Tène artistic tradition, depicted facing right and fragmented into abstracted curvilinear elements. The hair is rendered as a cascade of large pellets and lentoid blobs arranged in vertical strings above and around the head, dissolving the naturalistic form into a pattern of globular ornaments. The facial features are largely absorbed into the decorative field, with the surrounding area filled by diagonal hatched lines and branching motifs characteristic of late Celtic coinage. The overall composition reflects the progressive abstraction of the Macedonian prototype, typical of West Norican silver coinage of the late Iron Age. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Svicca type belongs to a loose grouping of late La Tène silver coinage produced by Celtic communities in the eastern Alpine region — territories the Romans would eventually absorb into the province of Noricum around 15 BC. By that point, indigenous coin production had effectively ceased, suppressed not by force but by the gradual monetization of the region under Roman commercial networks. Kostial's classification remains the primary reference framework for this series, though die-link studies have complicated the typological boundaries considerably.
The name "Svicca" derives from a coin found near Sviča in Slovenia.