CELTIC, Central Europe. Boii. First half of the 1st century BC. Stater (Gold, 17 mm, 6.71 g), 'Muscheltyp', minted in the general area of west and southwest Slovakia and/or northern Burgenland. Irregular convex bulge ornamented with a 'shooting star': a globule connected to three pellets by rays. Rev. Concave, 'sea-shell' shaped pattern: on this piece it seems, perhaps, to be a very debased bearded head to left, with an H-shaped nose area. DT 9445 var. Demski 515 ff. Flesche 477 var. Kastelin 1133 var. Lanz 52 var. Extremely rare, most unusual and possibly unpublished. Good very fine.

From the Trausnitz Collection, acquired from Münzhandlung Athena on 19 March 1998.

The so-called Muschel Staters produced by the Boii are well-known because of their mysterious types: basically a bulge on the obverse that seems to cover traces of an unknown, original type, and, on the reverse, a Muschel (= a bivalve, like a clam or a mussel) with rays. It is vaguely reminiscent of the 'Regenbogenschüsselchen' struck further west, but there is no real parallel (especially the obverse with the curious remains of a design around the edge of the bulge).