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I've said it before and I'll say
it again: I think ancient
British die cutters had a good
sense of humour. Just look at
the bizarre beaming facing on
this Hampshire Smiler gold
quarter stater, which was only
recently unearthed. Yes, the
Hampshire Smiler is a brand
'new' type - yet another
previously unrecorded and
hitherto unpublished type which
is seen for the first time in
the pages of the Chris Rudd
catalogue. And what a remarkable
new type it is. Though
there isn’t a recorded findspot
for this new gold quarter
stater, we believe that it
almost certainly belongs to the
Southern Region and that it was
probably produced by the Belgae
of Hampshire, which is why we’ve
christened it ‘Hampshire
Smiler’. The closest match for
this amusing new type is the
Cogwheel Smiler (Chris Rudd
List 20, no.6) which clearly
developed from the much commoner
though still scarce Hampshire
Thunderbolt (VA 143, BMC
129-36). The Hampshire Smiler,
like the Cogwheel Smiler, is of
a baser gold alloy than the
Hampshire Thunderbolt and much
lighter in weight. At first
glance there doesn’t seem to be
much difference in design
between the ‘new’ Hampshire
Smiler and the ‘old’ Cogwheel
Smiler, but there are in fact
some quite marked differences.
The main distinguishing features
of the Hampshire Smiler are as
follows: two eye-like
ringed-pellets have replaced the
two ‘cogwheel’ eyes on the
obverse, there’s a T-shape above
the horse and there’s a double
beaded line below the horse.
Like the Cogwheel Smiler, the
new Hampshire Smiler has an
obvious affiliation with the
Cheriton Smiler gold stater. Chris Rudd May list.
12.4.10 |
