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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roerbakmix, post: 3696123, member: 100731&quot;]Having mostly focussed so far on the silver coinage of the Roman Empire, and adding some coins of interest to my collection, my latest purchase brought me probably more satisfaction than most coins combined. As alluded in the title: I feel I&#039;ve passed my numismatic <i>rite de passage </i>with the coin below:</p><p><i>[ATTACH=full]990610[/ATTACH]</i></p><p><b>Ruler</b>: Anonymous. <b>Denomination</b>: AV stater, minted: Ambiani Celts, (current France); 58-55 BC</p><p><b>Obs: </b>Blank; </p><p><b>Rev:</b> Disjointed horse right with remains of charioteer above; crescent above pellet below, intertwined lines pattern in exergue</p><p><b>Weight</b>: 6.02g; Ø:17cm</p><p><b>Catalogue</b>: Evans 1864 Pl.B8; Scheers 1977 series 24, class IV (type) </p><p><b>Description</b>: reddish-gold, with some slight scratches on the observe. The reverse shows minimal wear and is in excellent condition. </p><p><b>Acquired</b>: 31-08-2019</p><p><b>Provenance: </b>Found in France, ex. private collection (2015-08-2019)</p><p><br /></p><p>The Ambiani Celts were Belgic people of Celtic language. In 57 BC, when Julius Caesar started his Belgic campain, they were able to muster 10.000 armed men (Bello Gallico, book 2, chapter 4). However, when he came close to their capital Samarobriva (probably the modern Amiens), they submitted to Caesar (Bello Gallico, book 2, chapter 15). This gold stater was probably minted to finance the war against Julius Caesar. </p><p>There are two hypotheses regarding the blank observe: 1) as several Celtic tribes made an alliance, a typical Celtisized horse was used for the reverse. The observe was left blank as to signify that the coins were minted by a coalition of tribes – ‘headless’ in other words, or 2) to speed up the production process. The latter explanation is more plausible, as the coins were made in a great hurry. </p><p><br /></p><p>Holding this heavy coin in hand, and fantasizing about the history attached to it, I suddenly feel the urge to acquire more high-quality coins instead of the next Sevarus Alexander (though, no hard feelings against Alex!). Also, a big thanks to [USER=106566]@DCCR[/USER] for his detailed thoughts regarding this coin and Celtic gold coins in general. </p><p><br /></p><p>Please post coins that caused your <i>rite de passage</i> - coins that made you look differently at your collection.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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