# Horse Head and Palm Tree Cufflinks, Ancient Carthage Coin Design

## Horse Head Cufflinks From an Ancient Carthage Coin

These **horse head cufflinks** reproduce one side of a silver coin struck in ancient Carthage. Collectors often search for ancient coin cufflinks like this one, though Carthage, not Etruria, issued the original design. Carthage held parts of western Sicily for nearly 150 years, from the late 400s BC into the 200s BC. Its mints struck coins to pay soldiers, many of them Greek mercenaries serving under Carthaginian command.

The coin type behind these ancient coin cufflinks dates to around 320 to 300 BC. Its reverse shows a horse head facing a date palm, a pairing scholars still discuss today. Experts disagree on which city struck this coin, with Lilybaeum and Entella both proposed as the mint. Either way, the coin is Punic in origin.

### What the Horse and Palm Tree Mean

No engraver signed this design, which was normal for Greek and Punic coin dies of the period. The horse may honor Baal Hammon, Carthage's chief god, or recall a foundation legend, or simply mark military purpose. The palm tree works as a pun, since the Greek word for palm tree, phoinix, also meant Phoenician. Carthage was a Phoenician city, so the tree stands for its own people, stated in terms a Greek speaking audience in Sicily would understand. That makes it a piece of Carthage coin jewelry rather than an Etruscan one.

### From Silver Coin to Gold Cufflinks for Men

The original coin is silver, struck to the Greek Attic weight standard at about 17 grams. These horse head cufflinks translate that design into 24K gold plated pewter, 3/4 in across, made in the USA. As gold cufflinks for men, they carry the horse head and palm tree image at cufflink scale, worn rather than spent.

### Item Details

-   Subject: horse head and palm tree, after a Siculo-Punic silver tetradrachm, Sicily, about 320 to 300 BC
-   Material: 24K gold-plated pewter
-   Diameter: 3/4 in
-   Made in: USA
-   SKU: 7821

See more pieces in our [Museum Jewelry Cufflinks and Tie Tacks](https://www.museumize.com/collections/museum-jewelry-cufflinks-tietacks) collection.

### For More Reading

-   [American Numismatic Society: Palm Reading](https://numismatics.org/pocketchange/palm-reading/)

## Details

- **Price:** 53.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Multilana
- **Type:** Museum Jewelry
- **Tags:** culture-greek-roman, interest-animals, interest-animals-horses, museum-jewelry, museum-jewelry-cufflinks-tietacks

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 53.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Gold plated horse head and palm tree cufflinks pair
- Silver tetradrachm coin with horse head and palm tree, ancient Carthage

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> Source: [Museumize.com](https://www.museumize.com/products/horse-head-cufflinks)
> Updated: 2026-10-02