Though doubts exist about its authenticity, it is generally classified as a work of Iron Age Celtic sculpture, perhaps from the south of Gaul.

When papers provided were inadequate to identify the statue, the shipping agent agreed to bring it to the British Museum for identification.

[1]: 40  Ian Stead, then Deputy Keeper at the British Museum's Department of Prehistoric and Romano-British Antiquities, published a paper on the monster in order to "acquaint the archaeological world with a puzzling object.

"[1]: 42 The British intermediary who was attempting to export the statue claimed that it had been "discovered at the end of the [19th] century at Linsdorf, near Durmenach in Alsace".

[2]: 294 [a] When the export license was being considered, Stead's colleagues in continental Europe "confirmed that they had seen it in recent years" on the market there.

Stead suggests this residue is modern, but according to Alix Barbet [fr] (of the CNRS) nothing about this pigment is incompatible with a much earlier date.

[1]: 42  Stead communicated that "doubts remain about its authenticity", but that on stylistic grounds it had been classified at the British Museum as a work of Iron Age Celtic sculpture.

[1]: 40–41 The strong resemblance of the statue to the Tarasque of Noves, a stone sculpture of a monster with severed heads found in France, has been noted.

[3]: 213 [1]: 41 The stone has been interpreted by Stead, Armit, and Langloys with reference the widespread Celtic cult of the severed head.