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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TIF, post: 2028920, member: 56859&quot;]<font size="5">This is my second ancient Celtic purchase.&nbsp; Admittedly, I know very little about Celtic coins.&nbsp; There are a half dozen on my hit list though.&nbsp; Since I first saw this type posted by [USER=8959]@Eduard[/USER] on 10/26/13 (&quot;<a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-i-like-roman-coins-but-i-think-like-these-even-better-celtic.238001/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-i-like-roman-coins-but-i-think-like-these-even-better-celtic.238001/">I like Roman coins, but I think like these even better: Celtic</a>&quot;) this Celtic was at the top of the list.&nbsp; &quot;Little Dancing Man&quot; quinarii don&#039;t come up with great frequency and tend to be pricey.&nbsp; Recently there were two at auction which I hoped would stay within reach.&nbsp; This one did <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> </font></p><p><font size="5"><br /></font></p><p><font size="5">[ATTACH=full]368905[/ATTACH] </font></p><p><b>CELTIC, Central Europe (Rhineland).&nbsp; &quot;Dancing Mannikin&quot; type</b></p><p><b>65 BCE - CE 1</b></p><p>AR Quinarius, 13 mm, 1.62 gm</p><p>Obv:&nbsp; dancing mannikin right, head turned left, holding snake in right hand, torque in left hand.</p><p>Rev:&nbsp; horse standing right, head turned left; around, zig zag border.</p><p>Ref:&nbsp; SLM 1118. Dembski 73, 396.&nbsp; <i>(I&#039;ll have to take the seller&#039;s word on that for now.&nbsp; If any of you have a Celtic reference and find this inaccurate, please let me know.)</i></p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s not the peak of numismatic artistry but it does have a very appealing quality:&nbsp; it makes me laugh.&nbsp; Seriously.&nbsp; What the heck is this scene about?&nbsp; A marionette dancing with a snake, which is biting his nose?&nbsp; Even the horse looks shocked.&nbsp; I&#039;m not though.&nbsp; &quot;He who dances with snake gets bit on nose&quot;, everyone knows that. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]368912[/ATTACH]</p> <p style="text-align: center"><font size="3">The base coin in this animated gif is the other coin I considered (from <a href="http://www.nomosag.com/default.aspx?page=ucDetails&amp;auctionid=9&amp;id=26" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.nomosag.com/default.aspx?page=ucDetails&amp;auctionid=9&amp;id=26" rel="nofollow">Nomos 9</a>)</font></p><p><br /></p><p>Online references for Celtic coins aren&#039;t as plentiful as for Greeks and Romans.&nbsp; I haven&#039;t found much about the type.&nbsp;&nbsp; fall into two types, an earlier scarcer type and a later one with &quot;larger features&quot;.&nbsp; I don&#039;t know which mine is, probably the latter.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s the most comprehensive information I&#039;ve found about the coin-- and it isn&#039;t much.&nbsp; <b><a href="http://www.jalc.nl/cgi/t/text/get-pdf86de.pdf?c=jalc;idno=0101a02" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.jalc.nl/cgi/t/text/get-pdf86de.pdf?c=jalc;idno=0101a02" rel="nofollow">Coin use in a dynamic frontier region. Late Iron Age coinages in the Lower Rhine area</a></b>; from <i>Journal of Archaeology in the Low Countries 1-1 (May 2009)</i>, Nico Roymans, Joris Aarts, and AUP:</p><p><br /></p><p><font size="4">Another long-running coin series are the quinarii of the Scheers 57 type, with a figure of a &#039;dancing man&#039; on the obverse and a horse on the reverse.&nbsp; Schulze-Forster and Heinrichs have recently discussed the development of this group.&nbsp; It began and a trans-Rhine issue, with the <i>oppidum</i> on the Dünsberg in Hessen as the probable minting center.&nbsp; A more recent group consists of silver with a high copper content and is concentrated in the western Lower Rhine region, where it also appears to have been minted.&nbsp; Circulation was concentrated in the Cologne hinterland, and to a lesser extent in the Dutch river region.&nbsp; Partly on the basis of the dating of these coin issues, the cluster in the Cologne region may be associated with the Ubii.&nbsp; There is a plausible link to historical accounts of Ubian migration from the east to the west bank of the Rhine during Agrippa&#039;s first or second governship (38/39 or 19/18 BC).&nbsp; There are too few coins from the Dutch River region for the Batavi to have played any role in the more recent issues of the series.&nbsp; Schulze-Forster dates the <i>quinarii </i>of the younger group to after 30 BC.&nbsp; Their presence in Augustan army camps suggests that these coins continued to circulate until about 10 AD, although their production would have ceased somewhat earlier.</font></p><p><font size="4"><br /></font></p><p><font size="5">These &quot;little dancing man&quot; coins have been found in this approximate geographic distribution:</font></p><p><font size="5"><br /></font></p><p><font size="5">[ATTACH=full]368921[/ATTACH] </font></p><p><font size="5"><br /></font></p><p><font size="5">While there are many interesting questions to be answered about this Celtic coin, the most fascinating is the iconography.&nbsp; What is it about?&nbsp; Is it serious, perhaps a shaman charming a snake?&nbsp; Is it poking fun at a foe?&nbsp; So many Celtic coins look cartoonish.&nbsp; This type certainly does.&nbsp; </font></p><p><font size="5"><br /></font></p><p><font size="5">[ATTACH=full]368938[/ATTACH] </font></p><p><font size="5"><br /></font></p><p><font size="5">Please post your Celtic coins or any cartoonish coins <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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