Celtic Coins - Symbolism

[Dathi]

Greetings,
Ancient coins give interesting clues and insights into the "times that were in it" and highlight "features" that were important to the people who crafted them.

Interesting paper here, history and symbolism of motifs on ancient coins.
http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Art ... cleId=6758

More here:
http://web.arch.ox.ac.uk/coins/ccindex.htm

Clearer images here:
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalo ... s=0#Celtic

And here: http://www.sheshen-eceni.co.uk/celtic_c ... llery.html - Looks like an interesting place to visit.


CFN,

Dathi

[otter oonagh]

thanks Dathi , I knew couple of these sites , but not all , coins and ancient objects are a immense source of inspiration for me ... Great , thank you again .

[Dathi]

Yup Otter Oonagh,

Consider the stories these ancient objects could tell. In some cases, there may be a direct link to a real-life Druid / Bard or whatever - small change in the crane-bag. Imagine that!!!

Some more interesting images here (nice and clear):
http://www.kernunnos.com/dlt/DLT_index.html

Despite their antiquity, some of these coins can be bought very cheaply. But, as always... caveat emptor.

Here is a bit of info on the DHP coin:
http://www.amlwchhistory.co.uk/parys/pennies.htm

And some "Druidy" numismatics....
http://www.kernunnos.com/culture/druids/vates.html
http://kernunnos.com/culture/oaks/index.html
http://kernunnos.com/culture/druids/bards.html
http://kernunnos.com/culture/warriors/index.html


CFN,

Dathi

[Eilthireach]

The legendary Kernunnos pages are by our one and only Kernos.

I own two original Celtic so called Quinars (in German: Büschelquinare) from the oppidum of Manching. They are very tiny with rough images of horses and cost around 35-40 Euro.



Really nice Celtic coins like the ones Kernos has quickly amount to several hundred Euro and a Celtic Rainbow Cup (Regenbogenschüsselchen, a type of gold coin) costs from 2,000 Euro upwards.

It's an expensive hobby, on the other hand I must say it is really cool to be able to hold something in the hand that is actually 2000+ years old.

Eilthireach.

[inis]

My husband collects ancient coins (mainly Roman Republic), and he also owns four celtic coins, two made of gold, two of silver. Like Eilthireach said, it's a puzzling and direct connection to the Celts when holding one of these coins in your hands. I can only strongly recommend people with spare time to dip into numismatic...
There's also a dazzling piece of work by a guy called Lancelot Lengyel (well, maybe it's a pseudonym), originally published in 1969, Le Secret des Celtes. (In german it's called "Das geheime Wissen der Kelten, enträtselt aus druidisch-keltischer Mythik und Symbolik".) I haven't checked the websites posted above yet, dunno if there are any overlapping contents - but Lengyel interprets for example a snake-like leg of a horse as a symbol for death and rebirth, the dots on the coins being symbols for the egg as the beginning of life, and so on. It's hard to decide whether it is all correct, but it certainly may give some insights on the symbols on celtic coins.
And well, these coins are original documents, so I've been wondering for a long time why we don't try to learn more about the ancient Celts by studying their coins...

[DaRC]

So interesting symbolism there Inis - do you know if there's an english translation anywhere?

BTW - i like your signature; I saw Sisters of Mercy in Roskilde many years ago...

[inis]

So interesting symbolism there Inis - do you know if there's an english translation anywhere?

Strangely enough, I haven't found one yet - does anybody know a really good site for antiquarian researches concerning english books? In Germany it's zvab.com, they also have a lot of books in foreign languages, but no traces of an english version of Lengyel's book there, neither in Amazonia.
Maybe I'll have to try and summarise the most interesting theories? You'll have to suffer from my english then...

BTW - i like your signature; I saw Sisters of Mercy in Roskilde many years ago...

Oh, that must have been cool - I spent the 80ies mostly in the kindergarten and primary school...

[DaRC]

You'll have to suffer from my english then...

Well it's better than you suffering my german

As to being cool watching SoM - well it had just rained