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What a great joy it
is to be able to
offer you a gold
stater that is not
only very lovely and
very distinctive in
its design, but also
extremely rare. Dr
John Sills writes:
“This is only the
sixth SS stater
recorded by the
Celtic Coin Index,
and the
second example from
this reverse die.
The staters and
almost equally rare
quarters are usually
found in Essex
and were almost
certainly struck
on Trinovantian
territory, but have
banded obverses more
typical of the
Cantii. The obverse
design is lifted
from late Gallic War
Uniface staters of
Scheers class 5
type, which have
almost identical
reversed Ss below
the horse; the
quarters are
similarly derived
from Gallo-Belgic D,
so the issue as a
whole can be dated
to the late 50s or
early 40s BC with
some confidence.
The coinage does not
fit easily into the
regular Trinovantian
series and may be
evidence that the
Cantii controlled
part of Essex from
an early date, which
would help to
explain why the
later Cantian ruler
Dubnovellaunos
apparently issued
coins in Essex as
well as Kent.
There's no reason to
think that the
letters on
the obverse stand
for anything,
especially given
their derivation
from Gallo-Belgic E,
but if they do
they're likely to be
the initial of a
ruler's or tribal
name; Caesar
mentions that one of
the four kings of
Kent in 54 BC was
called Segovax.”
Chris Rudd March
List (out 3 March).
28.1.08 |
