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Please
look closely. This isn't
what you think it is. This
is a Cunobelinus Plastic
Series A Type gold stater
(that much is obvious). But
look again at the ear of
corn. This is a Series A
Type
with
Rings.
There’s no doubt about it.
There are three little rings
concealed behind the corn
ear, apparently engraved
before the whiskers were.
We’ll never know what was in
the mind of the die cutter
at the time, but his
circular doodles must have
been deliberate. Was it the
same engraver who cut the
reverse die? If so, we may
again wonder what he was
thinking about (or not) when
he placed - or rather
misplaced – the letter O
halfway between the exergual
line and the horse’s lower
foreleg, bouncing around
like a loose polo ball. This
die pairing (Allen Ed) can
be seen on Hobbs BMC 1815
(ex John Evans, found at
Biggleswade, Beds.) and on
three staters illustrated by
Derek Allen in ‘Cunobelin’s
gold’, Britannia
6 (1975), pl. IV, nos. 100,
101, 102. It’s difficult to
estimate precisely how many
of these Plastic Series A
with Rings have been found
(the top part of the corn
ear, where the three rings
are well hidden, is often
off the flan). All we can
say is that it seems to be
the first specimen we’ve had
and we think it may be
extremely rare or very rare.
The important thing is that,
rings or no rings, this is
an exceedingly fine stater
with a well centred corn
ear, the boldest of bold
horses and a virtually
complete inscription. Chris Rudd's January catalogue.
13.12.10 |
