East Wiltshire c.50-35 BC Upavon Moon Head Silver Unit *Scarce*

East Wiltshire c.50-35 BC Upavon Moon Head Silver Unit

Scarce

ABC 2128, 13mm, 0.98g

Obverse

Moon head right, three crescents for hair sometimes with ring in each, pellet hairline, large sunburst on chin, stalk lips. Wheel in front of face.

Reverse

Horse left, feather tail. Small ring and large wheel below. Small ring and two large pellet bosses above.

Comments

 

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 FPL 87, no 20, Nov 1995. Found South of Bristol

This coin comes with a previous label.

 

‘East Wiltshire’ Tribe

Although Dobunnic coinage holds sway over much of Wiltshire, the central and eastern parts of the county appear to have been home to a different coin-issuing group for at least part of the late 1st century BC. While Derek Allen first noted the possibility of this polity’s existence in 1971, only as a consequence of the important work done by archaeologist Paul Robinson several years later (published in 1977 within BNJ 47) was this confirmed from a numismatic perspective. Previously, these coins had been féted as irregular issues of the Dobunni, a view held by both Allen and the collector R.P. Mack.

Important from a chronological perspective is the fact that no coins of the East Wiltshire group are inscribed, a feature which suggests they probably date to the end of the 1st century BC.