NORTHEAST GAUL. Ambiani. Circa 60-30 BC. Coin Die for a Stater Reverse (Bronze, 54x29 mm, 146.14 g), 'statère uniface' type. Celticized horse galloping to right, horseman transformed into fibula-like figure; before, eye-shaped ornament; below horse, pellet; in exergue, ornamented ground line formed out of crescents and pellets (all incuse and inverted). L.-P. Delestrée and F. Pilon: Le coin monétaire gaulois de Remiremont (Vosges), in: CN 187 (2011), pp. 25-34 (this die). L.-P. Delestrée and C. Lopez: Inventaire revu et illustré des coins monétaires gaulois: ont-ils été perdus/cachés avant ou après utilisation?, in: OMNI. Revue Numismatique 15 (2021), 4 (this die). For the coin type, cf. DT 239-240 and LT 8710. Extremely rare and of great interest. Lovely green and olive green patina. Some corrosion, otherwise, very fine.



As one of only 40 western Celtic coin dies known to L.-P. Delestrée and C. Lopez in 2021, the present Ambianic die is of great importance in several respects. It belongs to the Ambianic series of 'statères unifaces,' characterized by an irregularly convex and unengraved obverse and, on the reverse, the stylized horse seen on the present die.

The Ambiani were among the most powerful tribes of northern Gaul. Their territory lay around the city later named after them, Amiens, south of the Pas-de-Calais, where Caesar wintered with three legions in 54/53 BC. He reports that only a few years earlier the Ambiani were able to field 10,000 warriors, and that in 52 BC they supported the besieged Vercingetorix at Alesia with 5,000 men. The strength of the tribe is reflected also in its extensive gold coinage: Ambianic staters and quarter staters rank among the most common Gallic gold coins.

The discovery of the present die, used to strike precisely these staters, is therefore of exceptional significance. Metallurgical analysis revealed a composition of approximately 85% copper and 15% tin, with only minor traces of lead. The high tin content gave the bronze considerable hardness, making it particularly well suited for use as a die, where sharp designs had to be impressed under heavy pressure into softer gold.

Of particular interest is the findspot. Remiremont lies in the Vosges department of eastern France, in the territory of the Lingones, several hundred kilometres east of the Ambiani’s homeland. According to Delestrée and Lopez, this suggests that many Celtic minting workshops were mobile, operating not only within the territory of a single people but also moving from one tribal area to another.

The present die may therefore have belonged to a travelling workshop first employed by the Ambiani and later moving on to the Lingones, where it was either lost or discarded once no longer needed. One may envisage such a workshop as a small group of craftsmen travelling with their tools from place to place and offering their services to different tribes and rulers.