Obverse: Head of Young Dionysus Facing Right, Crowned with Ivy Wreat
Reverse: Herakles Standing to the Left, Holding a Club, Lion Skin Hanging Over His Ar
When we speak today of 'Celts', we mean people who live on the very western edges of Europe, in Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Scotland and Brittany. The word comes from Keltoi, the name which the Greek authors of the 5th century B.C. and later gave the native people of Western Europe from Spain to Czechoslovakia. The Celts also spread into Britain, Northern Italy, Germany, and parts of Asian Turkey. They were known to the Romans as the Gauls, but would have thought of themselves not as one people, but as different tribes. Celtic tribes at different times were Rome's enemies, allies and, once conquered, the soldiers, farmers and craftsmen of much of its empire. This tetradrachm is a close match to the original type from Thasos unlike many of the Celtic copies that bear little resemblance to the model.

How many hands have touched a coin in your pocket or purse? What eras and lands have the coin traversed on its journey into our possession? As we reach into our pockets to pull out some change, we rarely hesitate to think of who might have touched the coin before us, or where the coin will venture to after it leaves our hands. More than money, coins are a symbol of the state that struck them, of a specific time and location, whether contemporary currencies or artifacts of a long forgotten empire. This stunning hand-struck coin reveals an expertise of craftsmanship and intricate sculptural detail that is often lacking in contemporary machine- made currencies.