Catuvellauni Addedomaros c. 45–25 BC X. Box (Shell Box) Gold Quarter Stater *Very Rare*

Catuvellauni Addedomaros c. 45–25 BC X. Box (Shell Box) Gold Quarter Stater

Back-to-back crescents with opposing arcs at the points (sometimes extending from the crescents), projecting chevron and pellet design inside, on plain field. Pellet border.

Small, full-bodied horse right with mane and thick, outstretched legs. Box with cross within below. Three-branch motif above with leaf at end of each. Inscription around.

Very Rare

Well struck on a large flan so much of the radial inscription showing, a premium coin.

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ABC 2520; 15mm, 1.38g

Van Arsdell Classification: Trinovantian K, Earlier Dynastic Issues, Addedomaros Third Coinage.

Sills DK 490 (5 obverse, 9 reverse dies): North Thames Coinage; Type: Addedomaros; Quarter Staters: Class 1b – Shell Box. Die links with the obverse of Shell Box Thin Legs (ABC 2520) but the arcs on the points of the crescents become more prominent and the horse has thicker legs. The equivalent stater is the Shell Whorl (ABC 2511).

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

Tony Carter Collection Aug 2008 VA 1638

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.