Catuvellauni and Trinovantes Cunobelinus c. AD 8-40 Classic Stalk type Gold Stater Scarce

Name: Catuvellauni and Trinovantes Cunobelinus c. AD 8-40 Classic Stalk type Gold Stater *Scarce*
SKU: IAC409
Price: 5500.00 GBP
Availability: OutOfStock

£5,500.00

Code: IAC409

Catuvellauni and Trinovantes Cunobelinus c. AD 8-40 Classic Stalk type Gold Stater

Scarce

ABC 2798, 18mm, 5.47g

Obverse

Corn ear (barley) with central stalk with symmetrical grain pairs, bristles from every grain. CA MV inscription either side. Arcs at base.

Reverse

Naturalistic horse prancing right, fine pellet mane. Branch with few fronds above. No pellets. CVNO inscription below.

Mint

CAMV	Camulodunum, modern-day Colchester, United Kingdom

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Comments

Evans: IX.4 (1864, p. 298, pl. IX).

Sills Classic A, Scroll Stem (9 obverse, 10 reverse dies): North Thames Coinage; Type: Cunobelinus; Staters: Class 7a – Classic A, Workshop 1, Scroll Stem. Die links to the Plastic (ABC 2786) and so production was likely continuous despite the very different design, which seems to have been an attempt to improve quality.
Sills DK 564: Obverse is Classic type with symmetrical grain pairs (compared to Plastic asymmetrical) in Plastic style (rough, irregular, with untidy lettering). Base of stalk is a standing arc with simple scroll. The prototype for Epaticcus’s Corn Ear Warrior (ABC 1343).
Sills DK 565: Base of stalk is an ornate scroll, possibly based on Wild A Decorated (Sills 556). Neater lettering with pellet serifs. The obverse can be CAMV or CAM. One die has a fine inner pellet ring on the obverse that runs through the inscription and barley spikes, which is perhaps an erased die (see CCI 10.0971).

There is a further variant with a pellet under the horse’s tail. This is Chris Rudd’s ‘Stalk Type with Dot under Tail’ (Chris Rudd List 143, 2 November 2015, lot 40) and ‘Stalk Type with Short Horse and Pellet under Tail’ (Chris Rudd List 139, 9 Feb 2015, lot 37).

The equivalent quarters are the Classic A, Bow Stem (Sills 587) and Classic A Scroll Stem (ABC 2822), all struck together.

Sills chronology: Gallo-Belgic Ca – British G (Early Clacton) / Aa Westerham – British La (Whaddon Chase) – British Lb (Westbury) – Addedomaros – Dubnovellaunos – Tasciovanos – Cunobelinus (Biga – Linear – Wild – Plastic – Classic).

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 88, no 100, Jan 1996. Found Sudbury. Seaby COE Plate coin no 288 (1998) VA2027

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.

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