Northeast Gaul, The Parisii, Quarter Stater, c. 60–40 BC, Traité de numismatique celtique (J-B. Colbert de Beaulieu), Classe V, fig. 21, BN 7796, LT 7796/7798, SLM 273, 1,54 g - highly detailed, immacuately centered and thus one of the best known examples of this extremely rare and important piece of Celtic art and Parisian history.
Already by the end of the 3rd cent BC, a settlement built on the Île de la Cité was inhabited by a Gallic tribe known as the Parisii. Julius Caesar wrote in “Commentarii de Bello Gallico” that the inhabitants would rather burn their town - which Caesar called Luteciam Parisiorum (Lutetia of the Parisii) - than surrender it to the Romans.
The present example is featured as number 29.4 (obverse) and 38.18 (reverse) in the book by Henrik Bo Andersen, Apollo to Apollo: “The Hunt for the Divine and Eternal Beauty” and is illustrated on p. 154 and 221. Purchased privately in Paris, 2011, accompanied by French Export Certificate.
EF
4 bids
| When | Bidder | Bid |
|---|---|---|
| 1120423 |