What collectible remains do we have of these ancestors ? Coins.

Celtic coins are artistic monuments - astonishingly modern - and you will see in them lines and forms that were collected by surrealist painters and writers, like André Breton, whose collection of Celtic coins was much admired by Picasso.

Celtic coins are often made of bronze, sometimes of silver and gold. They are often common and are to be found for sale at a hundred francs ( twenty dollars ) upwards. Sometimes they are so rare and important that the prices are very high. The most expensive was sold for four hundred thousand francs ( seventy thousand dollars ) ; it was the gold 'stater' struck, just before his defeat, by Vercingetorix, king of the Gauls, who was besieged by Julius Caesar. Only four examples are to be found outside of museums and this was one of the finest.

A gold stater of the Parisii tribe,
struck around 60 - 50 BC.
(Monnaies V 596 ) Sold at : 18 500 FRF.

It is difficult to distinguish between gods and men, for these coins rarely have a legend and the faces of our ancestors, represented on coins, could be those of men or of gods, without our being able to differentiate . The symbolic stars are often present, especially the sun and the moon with imaginary animals, half-human, half-beast like the representations of Taranus and Belenus.

A Bronze of the tribe of the 'Rèmes'
from the Reims region.
Estimated at : 1 200 FRF

A Drachme of the tribe of the 'Pétrocores',
from the Périgueux region .
Estimated at : 2 500 FRF.

Recommended books to read : La Tour-Scheers " Atlas des monnaies gauloises "(Atlas of Celtic coins ) and MONNAIES II , recent specialised sale of seven hundred Celtic coins.

There are several reference collections including those of the French National Library (BnF) and the British Museum. Neither of these is complete of course, as there are many coins of which there are less than five existing examples. The aim is to create a reference system on the Net, using photos from private collections and from sales' catalogues . The co-ordinator of the project 'Celtic Coin Index', is Philipp de Jersey at the following address : Jersey à http://units.ox.ac.uk/departments/archaeology/ccindex/ccindex.htm