One of the defining features of ancient British coins - a characteristic that separates them from Gaulish coins - is the way that British kings branded their gold and silver coins. They proclaimed their names, and the names of their ancestors, BOLDLY. There was no shyness, no false modesty, about how British monarchs inscribed their coins. It was the iron age version of a floodlit 48-sheet street poster. This very British regal boldness can be seen in all its magnificent brashness on this exquisite gold stater of Verica of the Regini and Atrebates. "I'm a son of Commios!" he shouts on the obverse. And on the reverse, just a few decibels less stridently, he yells "I'm Verica the King!" The incuse cartouche was undoubtedly copied from potters' stamps impressed on imported pottery. Chris Rudd March List.       6.3.06