Four new additions over the past few months:

From the Parisii, ca 50 B.C. Schematic head or skull obverse, swastika reverse. Extremely rare.



From the Aulerques Éburovices, ca 60 - 50 B.C. Almost all known potins of this type were found in or near a Celtic temple. The obverse is a highly stylized head (a degenerated version of a design that is clearly a head). The reverse is a wild boar. Extremely rare type.



The following two are PIXTILOS types (10 classes of designs in total). I've managed to collect 6 of the ten classes, although one is poorly preserved. I'm also collecting the Roman Republican prototypes for each class.

From Carnutes, ca. 40 - 30 B.C., Class II. The obverse is a female head with the legend PIXTIL. The reverse image is a lion and lizard. Rare



From Carnutes, ca. 40 - 30 B.C., Class V. The obverse is a male head with the legend PIXTIL. The reverse features a seated figure with geometric designs. Very rare.

Very nice `potins' indeed.

Fascinating subject area, and one which I have avoided (to date) because I can't afford to have any more `interest areas'. While I still have a goodly few coins on my `hammered's' list to acquire I can see that it is going to be a struggle for me to stay away from these little bitties for much longer......

Bill, not all that many people will know what a `potin' is, let alone where they come from. If you could say a few words concerning same it would (IMHO) add to the `backdrop' for these particular ancient pieces.

Ian

So that second one is NOT a big smiley face?

Fascinating, I really want to delve into one of the British Isles Celtic coins, particularly if I can find one tied to Boudicca, the Iceni Queen whom led her armies against the Romans.

Terrific coins. I wasn't able to get the pictures to load earlier. Maybe too much net traffic.

A brief description of Potins (cast coins, cast much like Chinese cash coins on casting trees and the spur is often left where the coin was detached -- evident at 12 and 6 on the second coin, at 9 on the third, and 11 and 5 on the last can be found at this commercial site:

Brief Introduction to Celtic Potins of Gaul

The first two heads on the left side of the text page are early stages of my "big smiley face." The crescent is the back of the head. The eye, nose, and chin have been reduced to dots.

Is there a way to decide whether he is facing left or right (typical die alignment) or is that an arbitrary choice?

Those with full heads face left, so one must assume these face left. But, I'm tempted to rotate it to a big smiley face!