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This is a stater with a lot to
commend it. This is a stater of
great beauty - Good VF, rose
gold, with a clear Freckenham
Flower and a fabulous horse with
two wheels, one above, one
below. This is a stater with
pedigree - from a celebrated
collection and source. This is a
stater with a story.
According to the Celtic Coin
Index (CCI 86.0227) and Iain
Murray’s note in Glendining’s
auction catalogue of 6 November
1991, lot 72, it is one of the
original Freckenham type gold
staters that come from what Sir
John Evans calls “ a very
important hoard” found in 1885
at Forest Heath, Freckenham,
Suffolk. Evans says: “The
discovery was made by a labourer
working in his own garden, who
in digging came across a small
urn of imperfectly burnt clay in
which there appear to have been
about ninety coins of somewhat
base gold” (The Coins of the
Ancient Britons. Supplement¸1990,
p.578). This is the first
attested stater we’ve had from
this famous 125-year-old hoard
find and it comes from the
equalled celebrated collection
of war hero Henry Richard Mossop
(1919-88), ‘The Flying Farmer’
who was shot down over the Rhine
on 21 June 1944, imprisoned for
a year in Stalag Luft III, and
received the Distinguished
Flying Cross for his bravery.
This coin is accompanied by
Mossop’s own handwritten ticket.
Chris Rudd
March catalogue.
29.2.10 |
