I would certainly agree.

They could certainly do that, and some museums do, or just produce a digital image that shows how a seal would have looked.

Some museums do, but usually only stone seals - gold is soft and something this old can be easily damaged (getting putty out of the delicate engraving can ruin the clarity of the image).

Take a peek at my Flickr page about this ring. It may have been a seal ring, even though the engraving is somewhat shallow, unlike an intaglio.

Not that I know of. I looked up two academic papers, and the biggest back and forth was about the name - Abdim or Abdem - either of which may be a nickname. I added info about that on my Flickr page.

Or he was the original Doctor Dolittle.

Well, I really like his super curly hair. 😁

Who’s the gent on the obverse?

Nice coin! The cavalryman is probably influenced by some of the surrounding Hellenistic imagery from that time period (and Roman, seeing the later date). But even earlier Iberian coins had wonderful images of riders.

These days, seeing as I'm retired, the main client is me. I post the high-res images to Flickr for anyone to use (with credit), particularly for academics, teachers, anyone with a need for a high quality image. Not all museums have good online images, and many have punishing image costs.

Thank you!

I think it's more likely the culture was fairly steeped in Greek/Hellenistic imagery. Greeks had colonized the part of Spain just south of where this was discovered, so images of centaurs would have been well known by the Iberians. The Romans weren't quite there yet.

Yes, the centaurs absolutely reflect Hellenistic art, so this entire piece is syncretic, blending ancient Iberian and Hellenistic traditions. Nothing Roman, which might mean it’s before the Roman conquest, or early in that process.

It’s a great one! Psychopomps are fascinating, and some of the Greek gods filled this role, which isn’t often spoken about - like Hermes.

Where is here? Where am I? Coffee today is now kicking in and I seem to be in L.A. again, sadly. Raining, though, which I love. Yes, the topic is complex, and adding in slave vs. paid labor, price of exotic stone vs. local, etc. … yikes.

The dating is complex - it’s why I provided the link to the image on my Flickr account. It’s listed as 250 BCE-76 CE or the 2nd half of the 3rd-beginning of the 1st century BCE. So it was either made slightly before, or during the long conquest by the Romans.

This is the most complete one I’ve ever seen. Another item for our Fantasy Museum Replica Store!