Catuvellauni 1st Century BC Early Whaddon Chase Gold Stater

Catuvellauni 1st Century BC Early Whaddon Chase Gold Stater

ABC 2433, 17mm, 5.89g

Obverse

Abstracted head of Apollo right. Wreath (with inside end of each leaf pointing downwards above the hairbar and upwards below it) and spike (hairbar across wreath starting in three splayed teardrops and ending at ringed pellet in centre) cross to form quadrants. Two linear crescents enclosed in a linear panel in top right quarter above the hairbar, with top crescent not nearer the left-hand border. Three-line cloak with rows of dashed chevrons in the folds in bottom right quarter, 2 or reverse S as left-hand border. Single, large comb-like hair curl in each quadrant behind wreath above and below the hairbar. No outside beaded frame.

Reverse

Naturalistic horse with oversized ear right, mane of small dashes, single-strand tail with line of pellets off it. Wing motif and pellet triad above. Pellet sun (ring-and-large-pellet) below. Ellipse with row of pellets above it in front. Ellipse behind horse. Double-line chevron in exergue.

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Provenance

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

Sothebys auction LN5192, lot 141 (March 1995)  VA1476

This coin comes with a previous label.

 

Catuvellaunii

Maintaining influence over a broad swathe of the North Thames region, running broadly from Essex in the east to Oxfordshire in the west, the Trinovantes and Catuvellaunii have traditionally been considered as separate entities. This view was largely based on the writings of Julius Caesar, who vividly described the tactics of his opponent, the Catuvellaunian chieftain Cassivellaunos, as well as detailing the warlike ambitions he imposed upon his neighbours. However, this perspective of constant warfare between two neighbouring groups is now considered somewhat inaccurate. Instead, the picture appears to have been much more complex, with some scholars of the period going so far as to suggest the two groups were united both politically and economically by the middle of the 1st century BC.  One suggestion mooted by Robert van Arsdell is that a period of initial unity was followed by some kind of extended interregnum, during which several coin-issuing figures competed for influence. This in turn came to pass following the success of Cunobelin, with whose accession cohesion was once again achieved.

Nevertheless, that the two groups existed and once appear to have been independent seems undeniable. The Catuvellaunii probably lived mainly in and around what are now the counties of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. Their capital, Verlamion, still survives to this day – a heavily fortified location with impressive earthworks, sited some two kilometres away from the modern city of St Albans. Meanwhile, the Trinovantes were settled further east. Located firmly within what we might call southern East Anglia, their core territory seems to have comprised a substantial portion of modern Suffolk and Essex. The major settlement of Camulodunon represented their main power-base, which would be subsequently developed by the Romans into Britain’s first town – Colchester. Both these locations are known as Late Iron Age mints, their products inscribed ‘VER’ and ‘CAMV’ respectively.

The earliest issues of the North Thames region are characterised by the so-called ‘Whaddon Chase’ staters and their derivatives, an uninscribed coinage named after the Buckinghamshire site where a very large hoard was found in the 19th century. These may well have been struck in the late 50s or early 40s BC to pay tribute in the aftermath of Caesar’s expeditions to Britain. A diversification in the uninscribed issues via the striking of silver and, more rarely, bronze, is followed in the 30s BC by the issuance of the earliest inscribed coinages. These form a distinct, trimetallic set of issues, suggesting that by this stage some sort of monetary economy may have developed in the North Thames Region. Output of coinage intensifies towards the end of the first century BC and into the first century AD, suggesting coin-use may well have become more widespread.