CELTIC GAUL, THE VELIOCASSES, 2nd-1st century BC, cast potin unit

DescriptionPotin: Collins Dictionary tells us that it is a French word, prounounced “potah,” is an alloy of tin, a bit of copper, and impurities, and is apparently only used in relation to ancient coins. Similar alloys were used to make tokens in 17th and 18th century England. The cast potin coins were a Celtic innovation in coinage manufacture.The Celts came out of northern Central Asia as part of the horses and iron nomadic wave of the 8th century BC and later. They found that they liked the pretty Greek coins and made sometimes fanciful imitations of their own.Ancient Coins includes Greek and Roman coins and those of neighbors and successors, geographically from Morocco and Spain all the way to Afghanistan. Date ranges for these begin with the world’s earliest coins of the 8th century BC to, in an extreme case, the end of Byzantine Empire, 1453 AD.