Curls, horse and a bird's head
Three Celtic coins from the coin cabinet of the Württemberg State Museum take us to different places and tell different stories – the grave of a rich Celtic woman, a trading centre high above and a treasure hoard by the wayside. However, it all started with an invention from far away and its local development...
Gold stater of King Philip II of Macedon Gold stater of King Philip II of Macedon (340/336-328 B.C.)Landesmuseum Württemberg
Exotics from the Mediterranean
The Celts – as valued trading partners and mercenaries – learnt about money through exchange with the peoples of the Mediterranean. In Württemberg, for example, a few imitations of gold staters of King Philip II of Macedon were discovered.
Celtic Imitation of Gold stater of Philipp II. of Macedonia and from Brackenheim near Heilbronn Celtic Imitation of Gold stater of Philipp II. of Macedonia and from Brackenheim near Heilbronn (250-175 B.C.)Landesmuseum Württemberg
The Celtic leaders seem to have quickly recognised the value and usefulness of these pieces of gold as payment to warriors or for goods, and had them imitated as faithfully as possible by local craftspeople from around 250 BCE.
From faithful to abstract
Over the course of a few decades, the Celtic coin designs increasingly diverged from their templates and found their own typical language, partly due to the peculiarities of the production process: animals and people increasingly disintegrated into individual ornaments, consisting of bows, spheres, circles and loops. Soon, Celtic gold coins only had the material, gold, and the weight of the basic denomination of around 8 grams in common with the stater of Philip.
The first coins in Württemberg
The history of coinage in our country begins with the Celts. They were the first to produce standardised weights of gold and, later, silver coins in modern-day southern Germany, stamping them with increasingly distinctive motifs.
Southern German 1/24 stater with depiction of a Janus head Reverse (220-210 B.C.)Landesmuseum Württemberg
The coin in the grave – Giengen an der Brenz
One of the oldest coins found in Württemberg is a tiny piece of gold weighing just 0.33 grams, a 1/24 stater, which was minted in southern Germany between 220 and 210 BCE.
Burial gifts Celtic chain belt (270-246 B.C.)Landesmuseum Württemberg
Well endowed
This small coin was placed into the grave of a wealthy Celtic woman alongside other rich grave goods to accompany her on her last journey. Today, the town of Giengen is located above the associated Celtic cemetery on the river Brenz.
Burial gifts Celtic hollow-cast ring (3rd century B.C.)Landesmuseum Württemberg
Today, the town of Giengen is located above the associated Celtic burial site on the River Brenz.
Southern German 1/24 stater with depiction of a Janus head Obverse (220-210 B.C.)Landesmuseum Württemberg
Two faces
The obverse of the gold coin shows a double-faced head modelled on the Roman god Janus, as it was minted on coins from around 225 BCE,
Roman Didrachm with depiction of a Janus head Roman Didrachm with depiction of a Janus headLandesmuseum Württemberg
... initially in the name of the Romans ...
Punic 3/8 shekel with depiction of a Janus head Obverse (216-211 B.C.)Landesmuseum Württemberg
a short time later also by their opponents in the war, the Punic people.
Aerial image of the Heidengraben by Otto BraaschLandesmuseum Württemberg
Coins in and around the settlement – The Heidengraben
The oppidum on the vast Heidengraben plateau can be identified as a Celtic trading centre, not least by numerous discoveries of coins of foreign origin. However, southern German rainbow cups can also be found in and around the Heidengraben.
Sketchy bird's heads
Bowl-shaped, made of shiny gold, blank or with enigmatic images and symbols: rainbow cups were the typical coins of the Celts living in modern-day southern Germany. They also appear in seemingly rural areas.
Keltischer Goldstater - Regenbogenschüsselchen mit Vogelkopf und Torques Keltischer Goldstater - Regenbogenschüsselchen mit Vogelkopf und TorquesLandesmuseum Württemberg
Rainbow cups were issued with various types of images over a long period of time, from around 220 to 50 BCE. One common motif depicts a sketchy bird's head with a curved beak – perhaps an eagle.
Keltischer Goldstater - Regenbogenschüsselchen mit Vogelkopf und Torques Reverse (150-50 B.C.)Landesmuseum Württemberg
Hideout or Sacrifice?
Coins were particularly suitable for hoarding wealth, as even the motifs themselves seem to indicate: many rainbow cups depict a Celtic neck ring in combination with coins, which corresponds to archaeological discoveries. Such depositions may have been the private treasure of a rich Celt or an offering to the gods.
Torques with rainbow cups (4th century B.C.)Landesmuseum Württemberg
Such deposits may have been the private treasure of a rich Celt or an offering to the gods.
Somewhere over the rainbow
The rainbow cups were given their fairytale name during the early modern period, when random finds of these shiny pieces of gold – which would often be washed out of the ground after a rain shower – fuelled people's superstitions.
Where a rainbow meets the earth, the small golden pots with the enigmatic signs were said to have been formed miraculously to bring special luck to whoever found them.
Coins from a treasure hoard - the Schönaich find
The discovery of a treasure hoard of Celtic coins in 1852 was a stroke of luck for the impoverished Lauxmann family from the village of Schönaich in the Schönbuch area. Some of their seven children had discovered decorated buttons along the roadside north of their village, which their father only recognised as old coins several days later; he successfully continued his search at the site and sold at least part of his treasure to Stuttgart.
Celtic coin hoard from Schönaich (110-50 B.C.)Landesmuseum Württemberg
Silver curls
Today, the find can no longer be fully reconstructed, but it consisted of at least 20 silver quinarii and one or two gold coins.
Celtic quinarius from Schönaich (110-50 B.C.)Landesmuseum Württemberg
Typically Schönaich
The silver coins with the typical curly head on the obverse and a cross with symbols on the reverse only became known to scholars of the Celts through this discovery; this is why the town of Schönaich gave its name to this type of coin, which was later found even more frequently.
Bronze mould for the manufacture of a coin die (110-50 B.C.)Original Source: Archäologische Staatssammlung
Celtic tools of the trade
Matching dies, which may also have been used to mint the Schönaich coins, were discovered over 100 years after the hoard in modern-day Bavaria. The Celts did not mint coins made of silver or the copper alloy potin until the mid-2nd century BCE for the following decades, there is evidence of increasing trading activity, productivity and urbanisation throughout the Celtic world, which favoured and required an economy based on a differentiated coinage system.
Statue of Mercury and Rosmerta (150-200)Landesmuseum Württemberg
In the grip of the Romans
Even during the period after the Roman conquest, depictions of respective indigenous deities illustrate the importance of trade and coins for the Celts in modern-day Württemberg. However, the statue of the Roman god Mercury and the Celtic goddess Rosmerta with a purse clearly demonstrates the gradual disappearance of this culture.
Concept and texts: Sonja Kitzberger, Matthias Ohm
Editing and realisation: Noreen Klingspor
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