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Here's an extremely fine gold
'coin' of the highest rarity -
an extraordinary gold coin that
could make you weep if you don't
get it.
Fay’s Onion, named after its
finder, is closely related to
the Essex Wheels gold quarter
stater (VA 260, BMC 485, 496,
M76a), but not closely enough
for us to class it as the same
type. The horse of Fay’s Onion
has a belt around its belly, a
collar around its neck and its
double-stranded tail is formed
with plain lines, not beaded as
with Essex Wheels. Moreover, the
onion-shaped object above the
horse appears to be more open at
the top and is shaped rather
more like a tulip. Finally,
there is a ringed-pellet below
the horse, not a spoked wheel as
with Essex Wheels. This, the
only known specimen of Fay’s
Onion, was found near Abbots
Roding, Essex, which suggests
that, like its cousin quarter
Essex Wheels, it is a North
Thames issue. We hesitate before
branding it ‘Trinovantian’
because its style is clearly
influenced by the Qc quarter
staters of the Southern tribes
and because it
doesn’t slot logically into any
of the mainstream series of
quarters issued by the
Trinovantes. It may have been
struck by one of ‘several other
tribes’ who surrendered to
Caesar in 54 BC (BG V, 21). To
be sold by Phone Bid in
Chris Rudd's
March catalogue.
22.2.10 |
