Identifying Celtic coins

Abstract horses, wreaths, and heads — coinage reimagined by Iron Age artists.

Celtic coinage began as copies of Greek gold — Philip of Macedon's stater above all — and evolved into something wholly its own: horses dissolve into curves and pellets, heads become wreaths and crescents. Gold staters and quarter staters, silver units, and cast potin (high-tin bronze) all circulated.

The fabric helps: struck staters are dished with designs that flow off the edge; potins are cast in strips and show sprue stubs where they were snapped apart. Regional styles are strong — a British stater differs from a Gaulish one, and some late issues carry ruler names in Latin letters (CVNO for Cunobelin).

Precise findspot matters more for Celtic coins than almost any other type, because distributions map tribal territories. Record location privately, weigh it, and photograph in raking light — the abstract designs read far better with shadows across them.

From the guide library inside Collectors Catalogues, a free app for cataloguing antiques and finds with honest, museum-grade records.

More on coins

Identifying coins — Portrait, legend, and strike.

Identifying tokens and jettons — Not quite coins.

Identifying Roman silver coins — Denarii, antoniniani, and siliquae — and how to tell them apart.

Identifying Roman bronze coins — From heavy sestertii to tiny late-Roman nummi.

Identifying Greek coins — City badges, gods, and fabric — reading coins struck before Rome ruled.

Identifying Byzantine coins — Crosses, Christ portraits, and big value marks — the empire after Rome.

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