Catuvellauni Addedomaros c. 45–25 BC Crescent Cross Gold Stater *Rare*

Catuvellauni Addedomaros c. 45–25 BC Crescent Cross Gold Stater

Cruciform design with crossed double wreaths of two corded lines with central line through the middle. Outline linear crescents back-to-back at centre with fine radiating lines within. No spike (hairbar). Plain fields in angles.

Horse right with mane, single-strand tail and single ear. Ringed pellet in front. Wheel below. Pellets below, under tail, under head. Inscription (abbreviated name) over ringed pellet above.

Rare

A bold strike with much of the legend showing above the horse, a premium coin.

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ABC 2514; 19mm, 5.58g

Evans: XIV.7 (1864, p. 373, pl. XIV).
Evans: XIV.8 (1864, p. 373, pl. XIV).
Evans: XIV.9 (1864, p. 373, pl. XIV).

Van Arsdell Classification: Trinovantian I, Earlier Dynastic Issues, Addedomaros First Coinage. VA 1605 – 01: ADDEDIIDOM.

Sills Crescent Cross (16 obverse, 18 reverse dies, several recut): North Thames Coinage; Type: Addedomaros; Staters: Class 2 – Crescent Cross. Obverse is simplified Westbury (ABC 2442). Reverse based on Shell Wheel (Sills 485).
Sills DK 487: Six or eight-spoked wheel without ringed pellet axle below horse, inscription AΘΘIIDOM or AĐĐEDMA.

The equivalent quarter stater is Flower (ABC 2526).

Addedomaros could be Trinovantian or Catuvellaunian, or a ruler of both. His staters are similar to the Essex Banded, north-eastern coins with Cantian influence. They follow the sequence Shell – Crescent Cross – Spiral. The frond on Addedomaros Shell and coins of Dubnovellaunos in Essex and Tasciovanos may be a family emblem.

Sills chronology: Gallo-Belgic Ca – British G (Early Clacton) / Aa Westerham – British La (Whaddon Chase) – British Lb (Westbury) – Addedomaros – Dubnovellaunos – Tasciovanos.

 

Provenance

This coin is from The London Collection of Ancient British Coins. For more information click here: The London Collection – Silbury Coins : Silbury Coins

Davissons auction 12, lot 542 Nov 1999. CNG XXXIV, lot 479 May 1995 VA 1605-1

This coin comes with a previous label.

 

Addedomaros (c. 45–25/10 BC?)

Addedomaros appears to have been the first ruler in the north Thames sequence to place his name upon coins, perhaps a contemporary of his southern counterpart, Commios. His earliest coins, probably struck during the earlier 30s BC, are intriguingly of very similar general appearance to the uninscribed ‘Wonersh’ staters of the Atrebates – though their reverses bear a variation on the Latin inscription ‘ADDEDIIDOM’ (ABC 2514/BMC 2390–94). Some coins attributed to Addedomaros have been undertaken on stylistic grounds rather than their explicitly bearing his name, such as the increasingly common ‘Addedomaros flower’ quarter staters (ABC 2526/BMC 2416). His coins are generally found in Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Essex, though a number were found in the recent ‘Near Blythburgh’ hoard, buried in north east Suffolk. He is potentially the occupant of the so-called ‘Lexden tumulus’, a high-status Late Iron Age barrow burial from near Colchester, dating c. 15–10 BC. Amongst other things, the tomb contained a silver medal depicting the Roman emperor Augustus, a table and pieces of monumental statuary in bronze – suggesting its occupant was well engaged with trade networks and contacts from the Mediterranean world.