GAULE

GAULE
Aulerques Diablintes (2nd century B.C.). Golden statue.
Av. Award-winning Apollinian profile, right. Under the ear three-point pendant. Rv. Androcephalous horse on the right led by an auriga holding a ball-shaped standard. Below, sea horse.
LT.6804, DT. 6162. 7.65 g. 20 mm.

An exceptional coin. Superb

The Aulerques draw their important resources from the control of a vast territory stretching from the terminal part of the Seine to the upper basin of the Loire. Gold abounds as these two rivers and their connecting roads are one of the main routes to Cornwall where tin is mined and then exported throughout Europe, facilitating the production of high quality bronze. This Gallic confederation brings together four tribes from the same Celtic branch, which arrived in the middle of the 4th century BC. Among them, the Diablintes are established in the Mayenne valley. Their rare coinage derives from that of their powerful neighbours and cousins, the Cénomans. Only the presence of a sea-horse on the reverse side makes it possible to distinguish them easily. Remarkably engraved, these statues remain realistic in the morphology of their forms and the precision of their details, while being figurative in their unusual monetary types because they are derived from widely interpreted prototypes. Their metallic and aesthetic qualities explain why, unlike many Gallic coins, they were appreciated by collectors as early as the 19th century and have since been considered masterpieces of Western monetary art. This copy is certainly a spectacular illustration of this. Automatically translated by DeepL. To see the original version, click here.