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With the warm sunny weather
we're enjoying right now in the
land of Queen Boudica, November
seems a long way away. Here's
something to look forward to in
November. It's this stunning
Anted Rig Tree gold stater. The
Dobunnic 'tree of life' on the
obverse is standing out in high
relief and has an additional
little pellet at the base. The
surrounding surfaces are in
flawless condition - not a
scratch, not a graze, not a
blemish to be seen. And when we
turn the coin over we see a
complete three-tailed horse in
all its galloping glory; for
this completeness we can thank
the moneyer for striking the
stater on a slightly ovoid flan
which happily favours the horse.
Another bonus that comes from
the way this stater has been
struck is the inscription: you
can see all of it and you can
see it very clearly. The king's
name ANTED (probably short for
Antedios) stands proudly above
the horse and his title RIGV
('king') is carefully engraved
upside down under the horse.
This is a most exciting example
of a scarce Dobunnic stater and
the finest we've had of its
type. It will be offered for
auction in the Chris Rudd
November catalogue.
21.9.09 |
