Triton XIX, Lot: 2115. Estimate $3000. Sold for $6500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CENTRAL EUROPE, Uncertain tribe. AV Quarter Stater (13.3mm, 1.87 g, 12h). Head right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet decorated with coiled serpent / Eagle standing facing, head right, on perch, holding object in its beak. Unpublished. Choice EF, lightly toned. Apparently unique.

From the collection of Dr. Lawrence A. Adams. Ex Robert Freeman Collection (Leu 79, 31 October 2000), lot 46.

This piece was reportedly found in the upper Rhône valley, but the types are clearly influenced by the staters of Alexander the Great, which did not serve as a prototype for the Celtic tribes of Gaul. It is more likely that the coin originated in Central Europe, or even the Hungarian plain, where gold coin types often were modeled on Alexander’s coinage, and made its way west through trade.