Catuvellauni and Trinovantes Cunobelinus c. AD 8-40 Biga Gold Stater *Very Rare*

Catuvellauni and Trinovantes Cunobelinus c. AD 8-40 Biga Gold Stater

Very rare

ABC 2771, 17mm, 5.54g

A bold strike with much fine detail, minor scuff to lettering on obverse.

Obverse

CAMVL inscription in beaded or plain line tablet (V and L sometimes ligate) with ringed pellets at either end, in centre of vertical wreath of small horizontal leaves either side of a solid line enclosed in round-cornered panels. Heart shaped ‘faces’ and bucrania or splayed pellet V-shapes in opposite angles.

Reverse

Biga (two-horse chariot) left with Roman Republic-style horses. Large leaf above, sometimes with pellet below. Four-spoked wheel with pellets between spokes below. Curved exergual line with CVNOBELINI  inscription below (sometimes blundered). Beaded border.

Mint

CAMVL

Camulodunum, modern-day Colchester, United Kingdom

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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.

G Cottam coll. July 2015 (GC1232) DNW auction 73, lot 5248. SNC article April 2008, p55. Kretz Early type A4  VA1910

This coin comes with a previous label.

 

Cunobelin (c. AD 10–40)

Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, based on his extensive bronze coinage Cunobelin appears to have been a son of Tasciovanos – where he is often styled ‘CVNOBELINI TASCIOVANI F’ (Cunobelin, Son of Tasciovanos). Writing in the early 1st century AD, the Roman historian Suetonius erroneously refers to Cunobelin as ‘Brittanorum Rex’ – King of the Britons. While this may exaggerate his power and influence somewhat, it is evident that he was viewed by the Romans as a key figure within the region. He was potentially sponsored or endorsed in some way by Rome’s first emperor, Augustus. Indeed, like Verica, many of his coins (especially those of silver and bronze) show high levels of classical influence.

As a ruler in his own right, Cunobelin’s first act seems to have been to finish the task begun by his father, definitively exerting control over both Camulodunon and the Trinovantian territory surrounding it. Numismatic evidence for this can be found in the prolific quantities of gold staters and quarter-staters he struck at the settlement, which depict a corn-ear flanked by the inscription ‘CAMV’. Having solidified his holdings north of the Thames, it seems that Cunobelin extended his influence into Kent. Indeed, many of his coins are found there, as are those of his probable son – Adminius (Amminus). The subsequent power vacuum caused by his death in AD 40, followed by a brief period of instability which seems to have manifested across much of eastern and southern Britain, would be quickly filled following the Claudian invasion of AD 43 – an event which changed Britain forever.