Iceni Alii Scavo c. AD 35-45 Alii Scavo Silver Unit *Extremely Rare*

£2,250.00

Code: IAC311

Iceni Alii Scavo c. AD 35-45 Alii Scavo Silver Unit

Extremely Rare

ABC 1705, 13mm, 0.83g

Obverse

Boar stepping right, short dashes for bristles. Ringed pellet between crescents above. ALII FF inscription below using front legs as letters II .

Reverse

Horse prancing right. Four pellets around ringed pellet above. SCAVO RE inscription below in two lines.

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Comments

Van Arsdell suggests ALIFF SCAVO and ALE SCA might be different issues with different dates. Chris Rudd (ABC) interprets it as ALII FE SCAVO REX, or ‘Ale made it for Scavo the king’ and proposes that the ruler is ‘Scavo’ while ‘Ale’ is the moneyer. He suggests that Esuprastus, whom he identifies with Prasutagus, succeeded Scavo after the Icenian rebellion of 47. Cottam and Rudd suggest the inscription ends PE or PF, not RE, standing for Prasutagus and Esuprasus, but this seems unlikely given Scavo R has an R for Rex.

Talbot Ale Sca. A small issue not struck at one of the major mints. This includes Mildenhall, Cani Duro, Antedi Sia, Ali Sca, Esv Prasto and Ece A (Ecen Stepping Horse). Sca on Ali Sca may be related to Sia on Antedi Sia, issues of which are also low weight and have a similar head on the horse. Ale Sca issues hae fixed die alignment. Scavo (Scavo FE and Scavo R) likely preceded Ali Sca. They come from the north east of the region but are in the style of Cunobelin’s issues (such as ABC 2990) rather than Icenian, suggesting they are very early inscribed units (c25).

Talbot Chronology: Gallo-Belgic E/Ingoldisthorpe – Early Local Period I (55BC-35BC) – Early Local Period II (35BC-15BC) – Denominational Period I (15BC-5: Snettisham – Plouviez – Irstead – Early Boar Horse) – Denominational Period II (5-25: Boar Horse B – Boar Horse C) – Denominational Period III (25-45).

 

Provenance

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

CWB Coins PT 10.03.2003. Found in Norfolk  VA996

This coin comes with a previous label.

 

ALE/ALII SCAVO

The inscription ‘ALII SCAVO’ or ‘ALE SCAVO’ appears on two extremely rare types of silver unit (ABC 1705, 1708/BMC 4576). While these are slightly different in style to the overwhelming majority of Icenian coins, distribution of single finds suggests their production in East Anglia. As such, it is probable that they belong towards the end of the Icenian sequence. If ‘ALE SCAVO’ is indeed a person, then identification as a local individual of importance or a moneyer seems appropriate – although this is speculative.

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