So I have 2 coins that I believe to be Celtic. The 1st coin I believe has a bull or cow on the back. But the celetor missed the mark big time. It appears to be bronze and is 12x15 MM. The next one also appears to be bronze and is only 10x10 MM. Ironically, when I was searching these on acsearch, I had typed in Celtic cow to help ID the 1st coin (no luck) but this image came up slightly resembling the 2nd con. It isn't a perfect match, but the closest that I've found for either. EASTERN EUROPE, Imitations of Pella. 2nd century BC. Æ (16mm, 3.50 g, 5h). Celticized head of Athena left, wearing crested helmet / Cow grazing left. For prototype: SNG ANS 598-617. VF, green patina, some bare metal showing through on obverse. But even with that I've been able to find nothing else. Can anyone help tell me who, what, when or where these fellas are from? As always, thanks in advance. Oh, and please post any Celtic, barbaric coins or anything you like.
The first appears to be something like this one: IBERIAN AE As OBVERSE: Diademed male head right. REVERSE: Sphinx standing right, raising forepaw; star above paw, letter below Struck at Castulo Early 2d century BC 33mm, 25.3g CNH pg. 332, 9; Burgos 697
WoWiE! That's a beauty right there. Huh, a sphinx would be cool (even if all you can see on mine is it's "sphinx"ter. But yours doesn't appear to be in a square like mine does. Nor is the coin itself square shaped. Any ideas why one would be a kind of square?
No idea, but I might guess poor quality control at the mint. Perhaps someone else has a more educated suggestion.
Well, I am down the rabbit hole on this one. A site called ancientresource.com has this coin which resembles it a bit (though frustratingly the bull isn't outlined in a square). And lists it as a ancient Celtic drachm of Alexander the great (that can't be right??). Anyways the search continues...
I agree with Bing in that the first one has an Iberian look to it, perhaps Punic Iberia, but a quick search didn't hit anything. The reverse looks like a horse rather than a bull. A horse with a very long tail? The second coin-- I have no idea but I think the first picture is upside down. Looks like a crude or cartoonish bust. Celtic, I'd guess?
Yeah, the 2nd is weird I am not sure that it isn't just a poor barbarous imitation. Thanks for the idea on the 1st coin though. I've been sorting through bulls and cows half the day. I did find this Punic coin off your advice. No match but maybe getting closer. IBERIA, Punic Iberia. Circa 237-209 BC. Æ Unit (24mm, 11.54 g, 12h). Large male head left / Horse standing right; palm...
Alright, to add some closure, thar she be. Good call on the Castulo Bing and CT team. And it was a bull, with a weird long tail(good call TIF). Thanks so much for the help. Just an awesome group of rouges and intellectuals! Spain, Castulo Æ19. Early second century BC. Diademed male head right, monogram before / Bull standing right, L(crescent) above, Iberian legend below. SNG Copenhagen 213-216; CNH 52; SNG BM Spain 1359-1364. 5.67g, 19mm, 3h.
A question I find consistently intriguing is the relationship between official and unofficial or barbarous coins. This comes up in just about every time and place to some degree but there are some where the number of 'less than normal' coins exceeds what seems reasonable for what we have in 'normal'. The greatest single group of these strikes me as what we call the Barbarous Radiates copying coins of the later Gallo-Roman Empire - Postumus to Tetricus. Another example is the abnormally large number of odd style coins of Magnentius. Certainly the Iberian bronzes fit this group but there is absolutely no reason we should suspect that one explanation would fit each situation. We can theorize that these barbarous things filled a need for coinage after the withdrawal of normal authority from the region but we can not prove when, how and why the issues were made. I see no significance in things like the coin being square beyond noting that the maker saw no particular importance in following that particular characteristic of the original. From a standpoint of spending, round and ragged would be equal. I can't believe that coins like the first shown here circulated on par with the ones like Bing showed but my 20-21st century brain does not share much with the culture that produced these so I should not be too quick to dismiss any possibility. As a coin collector rather than a true numismatist, I have shown favor to nice coins with eye appeal (and I am a bottom feeder compared to many). Numismatic scholars of the past centuries have gravitated to studies of the beautiful and easy to love coins from places we know from our history books and written off some of these 'lesser' items as not worthy of their time. Obviously it will be easier to find order where order exists and trying to make sense out of all of our 'official' coinages is a task yet to be completed. For the present, we should appreciate the fact that coins like these exist and keep our minds open to patterns that emerge from the confusion. The first step to finding a better answer is the admission that we do not already know it all. Below are a few Iberians I liked well enough to buy even though I have never made an effort to understand the whole subject. Are these normal and representative of what supported commerce in their time and place more that the little scraps of mtal that started this thread? My first two are the 'same' type but share little in terms of style. What is the significance of the differences between the two and the other bull coins shown in this thread? I would love to know.
For additional information, please see: Vives, A., La Moneda Hispánica which can be downloaded from http://www.bibliotecavirtualdeandalucia.es/catalogo/consulta/registro.cmd?id=100048 Here is a humble little coin from the region. Don't have too many Iberian peninsulan coins from this time period... Roman Provincial: Augustus (27 BC-14 AD) Quadrans, Hispania, Julia Traducta (RPC-110) Obv: Bare head left; Legend around - PER CAE AVG Rev: Patera above aspergillum, jug, and lituus; Legend around - IVLIA TRAD
I love my Castulo coins... some of my favorites: RI Carinus 282-285 CE BI Potin Tet Alexandria Egypt 19mm Athena Seated holding Nike (Speak to the Hand, Dude... The Head is not listening!) Iberia - Castulo AE14 Quarter Unit Bust - BOAR w-star 2nd C BCE
