Celtic Rainbow Cup Stater Reverse

Between around 150 and 75 BCE, a Celtic craftsperson in modern-day southern Germany made this rainbow cup, which depicts a bird's head in a wreath of leaves on the obverse and a four-pointed star between a group of three dots and a lily-shaped ornament on the reverse. It was presumably a goldsmith, not a mint official or an officially appointed specialist, who produced small blanks from molten precious metal in waffle-shaped clay moulds and subsequently stamped them with the motifs described above. Traces of this process can be found, above all, in the large Celtic oppida such as Manching. However, discoveries of clay moulds or minting tools often also appear outside these settlements and economic centres, sometimes in the context of depositions by craftspeople or even small workshops. It is interesting to note that different types of coins were minted together. No centrally ruling leader or similar institution of a Celtic tribe seems to have exercised the minting monopoly or claimed a certain motif for themselves. Instead, it appears that travelling craftspeople and those living in the settlements minted gold as required for their wealthy patrons. The minting authorities of the rainbow cups would therefore have been the wealthy elite of Celtic society, of which ancient writers report that they gave gifts of gold to their clientele, paid mercenaries, appeased opponents, bought special goods and made sacrifices to the gods.

Four-pointed star between a group of three dots and a lily-shaped ornament.