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This is
a Boar in Hair gold
stater of the Veneti
tribe of Brittany,
found at Gurnard on
the Isle of Wight, 6
April 2008. It is an
incredibly beautiful
coin, extremely
fine, with
delightful pink
tones to its golden
gold colour and with
a superb
human-headed horse.
This particular
variety is of
remarkable rarity,
unpublished and
apparently unique.
Eighteen months ago
we sold a similar
Veneti gold stater
which was also found
at Gurnard on the
Isle of Wight (Chris
Rudd List 92,
no.5). The obverse
of this one is
virtually the same,
with a little boar
standing on the head
of the Armorican
sun-god. The reverse
though is rather
different and we
have been unable to
find a close match
for it anywhere. The
three staters
illustrated by
Delestrée and Tache
under the heading
au cheval non
androcéphale
come closest, but
none of the horses
has a human head, as
this one so clearly
has. DT 2105 has the
same winglike scroll
and beaded ring
above the horse, but
the horse has a
‘duck billed’ head
and phallus, and the
wheel below it has
only four spokes. DT
2160 also displays a
wing and ring, but
the wheel is smaller
and again seems to
have only four
spokes. DT 2107 has
a wing too, but in
place of the ring
there is a
long-horned
bucranium; moreover
the horse sports a
beaded collar around
its neck and has a
six-spoked wheel.
Not even Georges
Depeyrot, normally a
good source of
obscure Gallic types
and elusive
varieties, can match
our coin. What makes
it all the most
unusual is that it
was found, not in
Brittany, but on a
beach on the Isle of
Wight or, to be more
exact, several
inches below a band
of clay on a beach.
The find was
reported to the
Portable Antiquities
Scheme (ref.
IOW-B8D483) and
identified by Ian
Leins of the British
Museum. It is the
third gold stater of
the Veneti to be
found at Gurnard
(the first was in
March 1984) and
archaeologist Frank
Basford thinks that
it won’t be the
last. “How did they
get there?” asks Dr
Philip de Jersey.
“Who brought them,
and when? Did they
come in trade, or as
gifts, or for some
other reason? And
what did the
inhabitants make of
the extraordinary
designs, possibly at
a time when they had
barely encountered
any coinage at all?”
Chris Rudd's
November list. 13.10.08 |
