About the Hoard of Cucuteni-Băiceni

The hoard was discovered in 1959. Nowadays this hoard can be admired at the National History Museum of Romania in Bucharest. There are only gold objects in the hoard: a helmet, two parade bracelets, several harness appliqués of which four are square, three circular, four triangular, one rectangular and one violin-shaped, two spherical buttons, other less important objects, over 2 kg of gold in total.

The helmet is 34.5 cm tall, having a maximum diameter of 25 cm. The diameter at the base is 21 cm. The helmet mass is about 500 grams. It was manufactured from gold sheet and was adorned in the "au repoussé" technique with a lot of spirals and lines. "Au repoussé" is a French term, and presumes that the sheet of metal is beaten from the underside in order to obtain shapes in relief. On the cheek protecting region of the helmet a person sitting on a throne is represented - scene considered to have ritual significance. This scene is the one appearing on the coin reverse.

One square (of 9.4 cm side) appliqué from the hoard featuring four horse heads is represented on the coin obverse. The appliqué mass is approximately 100 grams. The aspect of the appliqué, a central umbo surrounded by the horse heads, is usually connected with the representation of the Sun, a very common motif used from the ancient times until today. The shape is a swastika with the arms bent to the left, named sauwastika in Sanskrit. Swastika, a.k.a. gammadion, crux gammata or hooked cross, has the arms bent to the right.