Regini & Atrebates Commios c. 50-25 BC Commios Muzzles Gold Stater *Rare*
£4,250.00
Regini & Atrebates Commios c. 50-25 BC Commios Muzzles Gold Stater
Wreath design with 2 hidden faces/Horse right, wheel below, charioteers arm and 3 horses muzzles above
Rare
ABC 1022 (plate coin); 17mm, 5.43g
Extensively used to illustrate articles on the Iron Age & Roman history of Britain, thought to be the finest example known showing much of the inscription.
Provenance
This coin is from The London Collection of Ancient British Coins. For more information click here: The London Collection – Silbury Coins : Silbury Coins
M Vosper 1997. Found Chichester CCI 96.2698, ABC plate coin, Spink COE 1998-? plate coin, VA 350
This coin comes with a previous label.
Commios (c. 50/30 BC–?)
In his account of the Gallic War, Caesar describes how he had appointed a man called Commius to be king over the Atrebates in Gaul, before sending him to Britain as an envoy to treat with the British tribes. Other information from both Caesar and related sources paints a treacherous picture, with Commius supposedly turning rebel and throwing his lot in with Vercingetorix during the Gallic rebellion. Fleeing to Britain after Caesar’s victory at Alesia, he apparently ruled there for the rest of his life. Because the earliest inscribed British staters of the Atrebates name an individual named ‘Commios’, it has become accepted in popular history that these are the same individuals – though it is highly unlikely that this is the case. We can attribute this conflation to the archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans, who felt that a concentration of Commius staters in Atrebatic territory was sufficient evidence in this regard. Simon Bean has re-dated the British gold staters inscribed ‘Commios’ to around 30 BC, which seems rather late to be the same Commius whom Caesar first sent to Britain in the 50s BC.
Out of stock
