Celtic Struck Bronze Ambiani Tribe / Horses
$57.00
Apr-10-01
Seller ancient-imports

Obverse: Horse looking back, designs around
Rev: Horse galloping r., head of horned animal below with
circle just above the head, boar behind with feet
pointing toward horses back, snake before.

This is a very interesting struck bronze minted by
the Ambiani tribe which occupied the area around
modern day Amiens, France. This coin is unlisted in
Monnaies II and De La Tour. It is similar to a number
of the other Ambiani bronzes but features more
designs. Weight is 2.5 grams and size is 15mm.

Relatively unknown outside Europe, and France in
particular, the Celtic coinage of Gaul – nowadays
roughly the countries of France, Belgium and Germany
west of the Rhine – is one of the most fascinating and
attractive series you can collect, with a very wide
variety of types, and prices are not high considering
their relative rarity, especially outside the borders
of France, so they can be a good investment as well.

Briefly, from about 100 BC to 35 AD,
many of the individual tribes in Gaul 
produced its own coins, until the spread of Roman
influence and conquest forced the adoption of the
Roman coinage system. Prior to this time the Celtic
tribes used a system of barter. After initial contact
with the Romans they came in contact with the Roman
coinage and decided to make coinage of their own.

Celtic coins were struck in gold, silver and bronze,
though not every tribe struck all three. Cast coins
were produced as well, using a very high-tin alloy
called potin. It is generally accepted that potin
coins have been produced in quantity only by the
Gallic tribes, so when you have some in your
collection you have something really unusual.

Over 125 different Celtic tribes existed and most
produced coinage, many are quite rare, others more
common, but none are as common as Roman or Greek
coins. They were produced in very limited quantity as
each tribe made their own coinage and each coin was
hand struck. There are many interesting designs to be
found on Celtic coins. Many of the more common are
warriors, horses, wild boars and geometric patterns.

The Gaulic Celtic tribes gave the
Romans trouble for nearly 100 years until they were
finally conquered. The history of Gaul continues well
into the later part of the Roman Empire figuring
prominently and producing such emperors as Postumus
and mints such as Lugdunum.

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