Celtic Drachm

bronzemat

Here is a Celtic Drachm I got awhile ago, mainly for, what I assume is a die crack at 1 o'clock?



Looks like a spear shaft in Alex's head.





Celtic, Lower Danube, Uncertain tribe. 2nd century B.C.

AR Drachm

Imitating Philip III of Macedon

O: Head of Herakles wearing lions skin headdress knotted at throat, right.

R: Zeus enthroned holding eagle.

19mm

3.61g

Lanz 939; CCCBM I 203-4

lordmarcovan

Oh, that's neat.



Looks too straight and linear and deliberate to be a die crack to me?

Aethelred

I love the reverse, it has a very modern mid 20th century look about it.

lordmarcovan

Originally posted by: Aethelred

I love the reverse, it has a very modern mid 20th century look about it.

Does kinda have a Picasso-ish vibe.

nicholasz219

Hmm, does it look cast at all? Maybe the arrow is actually a sluicing spot for a cast die? It is awfully straight and uniform to be a crack. Neat though.

STLNATS

Wonder if that might not be the remains of an ancient mount that was subsequently cut off leaving just the "footprint" of the base behind. How is it oriented to the weakness at the top of Zeus' head? Celtic are interesting since they're often abstract (and look modern-ish as noted in some of the other comments). Would certainly be an interesting research project.

bronzemat

Originally posted by: STLNATS

Wonder if that might not be the remains of an ancient mount that was subsequently cut off leaving just the "footprint" of the base behind. How is it oriented to the weakness at the top of Zeus' head? Celtic are interesting since they're often abstract (and look modern-ish as noted in some of the other comments). Would certainly be an interesting research project.

Its part of the strike itself, there isn't any give, open space or anything like that.



I have seen it on a few others of this type but they were more off center on the obverse and so they weren't as long in length like mine.

lordmarcovan

Cool mystery. Have you posted it on FORVM, too?

bronzemat

Originally posted by: lordmarcovan

Cool mystery. Have you posted it on FORVM, too?

It's in my gallery, but a actual post & asking, no, rarely do on there.

lordmarcovan

Originally posted by: bronzemat

Originally posted by: lordmarcovan

Cool mystery. Have you posted it on FORVM, too?

It's in my gallery, but a actual post & asking, no, rarely do on there.

Might be worth a shot at asking over there, since I'd place the odds of someone with the right specialist knowledge being a bit more likely to frequent those boards over this one.



(Which is not to suggest any deficiency of knowledge here, of course. That just happens to be the more hardcore "all ancients, all the time" message board, as you are well aware.)