Normandy, Abrincatui, Stater

This stater is traditionally attributed to the Abrincatui, a Celtic tribe in Aremorica, on the northwestern coast of Gaul, in what are today Normandy and Bretagne. This attribution is in no way certain, however.

The archetype of the coin was a stater of the Macedonian king Philip II that bore the bust of Apollo on the obverse and a biga, a chariot drawn by two horses, on the reverse. The Celtic engraver transformed these models into almost modern looking artworks.

How the heavily abstracted images have to be understood is ambiguous. From the curly-haired head sprouts a string of pearls and it bears symbols on its cheek. Below the horse are a lyre and four pellet-in-circle sun symbols.