Obolos 5

GAUL, Northeast. Parisii, circa 70-60 BC. Stater (Gold, 23mm, 7.09 g 3), class V. Celticized head of Apollo to right, with wavy hair and a floral ornament before. Rev. Disjointed and stylized horse to right, with a fan-like checker-board design (a devolved chariot and driver) behind. De la Tour 7777. D&T 83. Revue Numismatique 1962, pl. V, 55-57. Sills 473. Very rare and in exceptional condition. A most attractive and finely toned example. Extremely fine.

The gold staters of the Parisii are probably the most elegantly Celtic of all the Celtic coinages of Europe. The head of Apollo is large and has hair that frames his head like an aureole; around are ornaments vaguely reminiscent of the dolphins that swim before the head of Arethusa on the coins of Syracuse. The reverse shows a strongly Celtic horse, quite like contemporary bronze figurines, with a large head, large eye and prominent mane. Above is a large sail decorated with a checker board pattern, each square filled with a pellet. Both sides are, of course, ultimately derived from the gold staters of Philip II of Macedon, but the Celtic artists responsible for these coins have created a completely new type of their own.