Gallo Belgic Coins for Sale | Iron Age and Celtic | Silbury Coins

Iceni 1st Century BC Norfolk Wolf Right Type Gold Stater Scarce

Nadine — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 12:32:06 +0000

Iceni 1st Century BC Norfolk Wolf Gold (plated?) Stater

Right Type

Wreath, cloak and crescents/Wolf right with jaws open, bird on back and pellets above, pellet and crescent below, beaded exergual loop, neck torcs and pellets within

Scarce

ABC 1393, S30; 18x15mm, 5.64g

A fabulous example showing full wolf and much ornamentation around, including torcs in exergue. An edge chip and patch on the obverse suggests this coin may have a silver core, often seen within this series.

Comes with rough find area provenance

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Iceni

The Iceni, who largely inhabited modern Norfolk, represent what is probably Iron Age Britain’s best known tribal confederation. Thanks to the efforts of their last ruler, Boudicca, they have truly earned their place in the annals of British history. Representing a potent symbol of resistance against Roman rule, they have been wholly immortalised via contemporary culture – featuring widely in art, television and even through the medium of video games. Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge that there is much more to the Iceni than their swansong, a final hurrah pitched against the inevitability of Roman victory in Britain.

This was a land of skilled metalworkers in both gold and bronze, as evidenced by finds like the Snettisham torcs and the recent carnyx (war trumpet) discovered near Thetford, cunningly crafted in sheet-metal. Hoards of horse gear, such as bridle fittings and terret rings, are increasingly common here, showing an adherence to local art styles well into the later 1st and even earlier 2nd centuries AD.

Our knowledge of Icenian coinage has been much advanced in recent years by Dr John Talbot, whose extensive publication of the series represents one of the few truly up-to-date syntheses of an entire, regional Iron Age coinage. The sequence begins with two iconic gold stater types. Perhaps most famous of these is the so-called ‘Norfolk Wolf’ (ABC 1393,1396,1399/BMC 212–78). This type, on which the reverse wolf faces either left or right, is one of only a very few Iron Age coins to feature canids. The second of the iconic Icenian staters is the extensive ‘Freckenham’ series and its variants (e.g. ABC 1426/BMC 3396–3404). Named after an 1885 hoard of ninety such coins, found in the village of Freckenham, Suffolk, these types generally depict a large, rose-like flower in the middle of their obverse faces, set at the centre of a four-spoked wheel. Accompanying these are varying types of uninscribed quarter-staters, most common of which is the so-called ‘Irstead’ type with its distinctive lattice-square obverse motif. Other uninscribed quarter-staters vary from rare to extremely rare, the latter best exemplified by the so-called ‘Mildenhall Mystery’ (ABC 1489).

While extensive, the Icenian gold issues are nevertheless dwarfed by the sheer variety of silver coinages present, which utterly predominate in regard to the site-finds generally recovered by detectorists and archaeologists alike. Iconography varies considerably on these. Most developed are the ‘Bury Diadem’ and ‘Bury Helmet’ type units (e.g. ABC 1495/1498/BMC 3524–32), which have obverses depicting scowling female helmeted busts. The stylistic links between these and Roman republican denarii of the late 2nd and early 1st century BC are uncanny, suggesting these formed the prototypes for Icenian die-cutters. Subsequent types depicting human busts are distinctly more crude, such as the ‘Odin Eye’ and its derivatives (ABC 1537/BMC 3538–39) – the lips now amusingly exaggerated and the hair coarsely braided.

A subsequent coinage where the human bust is replaced by a boar, what John Talbot generally refers to as the ‘boar-horse’ series (e.g. ABC 1579/BMC 3455–72), marks the beginning of coin-design standardisation. These in turn are superseded by the most common Icenian silver coins of all, which depict a pair of opposed crescents on the obverse and a prancing horse on the reverse. Examples of this highly variable general type (e.g. ABC 1660, 1663, 1699, 1702) are prolific. Text is now added wholesale to coin designs, with lettering of varying kinds appearing on this issue. Those present include the inscriptions ECE, ECEN, EDN, ANTED, AESU and SAENU, amongst others. Are these rulers, moneyers, officials, traders, mint-names, total gibberish or simply imitations of Latin inscriptions? The answer may simultaneously lie in any or all of these areas, though John Talbot favours the idea that they are personal names. What we do know for certain is that these coinages were produced in very large quantities at multiple mints, and that they turn up in hoards accompanied by worn Republican denarii and early Imperial issues. On the basis of the latter, their manufacture and deposition can probably be assigned to the first few decades of the 1st century AD.

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Durotriges 50 BC-AD 43 Gold Quarter Stater Duro Boat Gold Scarce

Nadine — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 12:32:06 +0000

Durotriges 50 BC-AD 43 Gold Quarter Stater

Duro Boat Gold

3 Men in boat, pellet rosette to left / Zigzag thunderbolt across field, Y shape and uncertain objects to each side

Scarce

ABC2205, S368; 11mm, 1.49g

An early example struck in reasonable gold, with little wear.

Comes with previous dealers printed label

The Durotriges tribe occupied modern day Dorset with part of adjoining Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire. There is some mystery over the precise arrangement and correct attribution of coinage in the South-west, the Chute stater is probably struck by the Durotriges tribe but in recent years has been attributed to the Belgae.

The quick debasement of precious metal in the silver staters struck by the Durotriges would suggest an issue with the supply of silver to the area in the early first century AD, perhaps linked to the Roman conquest of West Gaul.

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Catuvellauni 1st Century BC Gold Quarter Stater Harlow Wheel Extremely Rare

Nadine — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 12:32:06 +0000

Catuvellauni 1st Century BC Gold Quarter Stater

Harlow Wheel

Stylised wreath, cloak and hidden face in 2 angles / Horse right with wheel with pellet rim above, cogwheel sun below

Extremely Rare

ABC 2463; 12x14mm, 1.26g

With a previous handwritten dealers label.

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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.

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Gallo Belgic Ambiani 1st Century BC Gold Stater

Nadine — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 12:32:05 +0000

Gallo Belgic 1st Century BC Gold Stater

Ambiani

Gallic War Uniface

Plain / Sinuous horse right

ABC16, S11; 12mm, 6.10g

Comes with rough find area provenance

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Iron Age Gallo Belgic & early uninscribed coins are found all over Britain. These coins were made in Gaul then imported during the 2nd-1st Century BC, before coin manufacture was established in Britain. The introduction of Britain’s own coinage in around 60-50 BC was in an uninscribed form to start with, only later did rulers realise the potential of inscriptions.

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Gallo Belgic 2nd-1st Century BC Gold Quarter Stater

Nadine — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 12:32:05 +0000

Gallo Belgic 2nd-1st Century BC Gold Quarter Stater

Boat Tree Morini

2 men in a boat / Tree like object

ABC40, S10; 10mm, 1.48g

Comes with previous dealers handwritten label

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Durotriges 50 BC-AD 43 Gold Quarter Stater Duro Boat Gold Scarce

Nadine — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 10:01:21 +0000

Durotriges 50 BC-AD 43 Gold Quarter Stater

Duro Boat Gold

3 Men in boat, pellet rosette to left/ Zigzag thunderbolt across field, Y shape and uncertain objects to each side

Scarce

ABC2205, S368; 12mm, 1.13g

Comes with rough find area provenance.

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Gallo Belgic Ambiani 1st Century BC Gold Stater

Nadine — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 09:12:13 +0000

Gallo Belgic 1st Century BC Gold Stater

Ambiani

Gallic War Uniface

Plain / Sinuous horse right

ABC16, S11; 18x15mm, 6.16g

A pleasing example showing full horse and torcs in exergue.

This coin comes with a rough find area provenance.

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Corieltavi Vepo c. AD 15-40 Gold Stater Rare

Nadine — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 13:58:59 +0000

Corieltavi Vepo c. AD 15-40 Gold Stater

Vepo Triadic. Rare

Wreath crossed with bar with crescent at each end, ring of pellets in each crescent/ Lunate horse left with large round head, pellet triad below tail, VEP above, CORF below.

A fantastic example, bold and central strikes on both sides, near full legend and much appeal

ABC1854; 18mm, 5.26g

Evans: XVII.5 (1864, p. 411, pl. XVII).

Van Arsdell Classification: Corieltauvian N, Corieltauvian Inscribed Coinage, VEP CORF.

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Recorded with the PAS (LINC-428AC5)

Vepo c. AD 15-40

Vepo, or voice, is the first part of this ruler’s name and might mean ‘friend, companion or comrade’. Vepo may have been son of Corionos who was an army chief. Coins inscribed VEP directly followed the uninscribed South Ferriby series.

Corieltavi

The Corieltavi (sometimes called the Coritani, Corieltauvi or Coritavi) lived in and around what is today the East Midlands. Though their territory was centred on Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, coin distribution patterns suggest that they probably held sway in at least some areas located north of the Humber – likely penetrating some way into modern Yorkshire. This gives them the honour of being Iron Age Britain’s most northerly coin issuers.

While no coins appear to have been minted either by the peoples located north of them, nor their neighbours in the central/western midlands, this position on something of a monetary ‘frontier’ by no means affects either the quality or quantity of their coinage. While there is little direct copying of classical images to be found here, nor evidence of any rulers whose names entered the annals of Rome, the coins issued within what numismatists call the ‘North Eastern Region’, are highly developed, characterful pieces which attest to the presence of skilled metalworkers and imaginative die-cutters.

Like many of Iron Age Britain’s coin-issuing tribes, the Corieltavi’s earliest issues date to shortly after the invasions of Julius Caesar, beginning with an extensive coinage of uninscribed gold staters. These, the ‘North East Coast’ type (ABC 1716, 1719, 1722/BMC 182–211) are derived from repeated down-the-line copying of classical Macedonian prototypes. Over time, this type morphs into the so-called ‘South Ferriby’ staters, characterised by the increasingly stylised horse of lunate appearance present on their reverse faces (ABC 1743–52/BMC 3148–80). Other varieties of similar ilk to the South Ferriby types include the ‘Domino’ and ‘Kite’ staters, both of which have intriguing geometric symbols that evoke these modern descriptive terms in their reverse fields (ABC 1758, 1761/BMC 3185–6 and 3181–84). Contemporary with the latter is a highly unusual coinage unique to the Corieltavi, comprising the so-called ‘Lindsey Scyphates’. These, which are thin and of distinctly cup-shaped appearance, depict stylised bristling boars on their obverse faces (ABC 1773/BMC 3189–92). The boar is an animal which seems to have held particular significance to the Corieltavi, given that it not only appears on the gold uninscribed scyphates, but also on the extensive series of uninscribed silver coins which seem to emerge slightly later, such as the ‘Proto Boar’ type and its derivatives (ABC 1779/BMC 3194–98). While boars also appear on the early ‘South Ferriby’ silver units (e.g. ABC 1800), these slowly disappear during the transition towards inscribed types.

The inscribed Corieltavian coinages, which probably emerge during the early 1st century AD (that is, c. AD 10–20/30) and continue till shortly after the Claudian invasion, are some of the most mysterious in the Late Iron Age series – not least because unlike those from the southern and North Thames regions, we cannot tie the individuals named upon them with historically attested figures named in written sources.

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Dobunni 1st Century BC Gold Stater Tribal Tree Very Rare

Nadine — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 12:30:48 +0000

Dobunni 1st Century BC Gold Stater

Tribal Tree. Very Rare

Tree symbol, ring at base, on plain field/Triple tailed horse right with charioteer’s arm above and wheel below

A superior example of this poorly struck issue, this type is seldom offered for sale.

ABC2003, S374; 20mm, 5.60g

Evans: C4 (1864, p. 72, pl. C).

Allen Type: British Ra.

Van Arsdell Classification: Dobunnic A, Early Uninscribed Coinage. Van Arsdell notes modern forgeries (VA 1005 – 01 – F1 and Fantasy 8).

Healy Phase 1:
COD 3a ‘Narrow Habit’ (ABC 2003). Branches close to trunk, ringed pellet at base. 10 known.

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Ex G Cottam collection, Bt. Nigel Mills, 13 May 1998

The Dobunni, the most westerly coin-issuers of Late Iron Age Britain, had a key zone of influence centred around what is today the Cotswolds – encompassing modern Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, parts of Oxfordshire and the lower Severn valley. Ptolemy places them firmly in and around Roman Corinium (modern Cirencester), although their original capital was probably located a few miles away at Bagendon – a massive site with huge enclosure ditches that was abandoned in about AD 60.

The earliest Dobunnic types are a small, restricted series of uninscribed gold coins perhaps issued in the period 50–20 BC, characterised by examples contained within the small hoard recovered in 1993 at Pershore, Worcestershire. These, along with many of their inscribed cousins, appear to partially overlap with a very extensive, uninscribed silver coinage first classified by Robert Van Arsdell – types such as the so-called ‘Cotswold Cock’ (ABC 2012/BMC 2950–1), ‘Cotswold Eagle’ (ABC 2015/BMC 2953–62) and ‘Cotswold Oxo’ (ABC 2024/BMC 2976–80).

Dobunnic coinage possesses a strong sense of regionalism in its artistry, having a relatively restricted, perhaps even conservative decorative range. There are no hints of agricultural prowess, as hinted at by the plentiful corn-ears rendered on Cunobelin’s gold staters and quarter-staters. Neither are there mint-names, as can be found proudly declared on issues of Calleva and Verlamion. Most certainly absent are both Latin titles such as ‘REX’ (king) and images from the Classical world; sphinxes, centaurs, griffins and wine-cups – as encountered on the silver coins of Cunobelin, Tasciovanus and Verica.

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Belgae 1st Century BC Gold Stater Chute Type

Nadine — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 12:08:21 +0000

Belgae 1st Century BC Gold Stater

Chute Type

Obverse – Abstract head of Apollo right (wreath with leaves downwards, cloak and crescents). Spike with long crescent.

Reverse – Crude, disjointed horse left, rectangular head, body of crescents, four vertical legs. Three horizontal lines behind legs. Crab below comprised of pellet with four wavy arms, each with a pellet at the end. Second crab (or bug) comprised of oval pellet with arms above. ‘Coffee bean’ motif with arms above tail. Reverse spiral below horse’s head. Many pellets above.

ABC746; S22; 19mm, 6.11g

Evans: B5 (1864, p. 60, pl. B).

Allen Type: British B.

Sills Chute (10 obverse, 74 reverse dies): Early South-Western Coinage; British B; Staters: Class 1b – Chute. Based on Westerham and following on from the Early Chute, the first issues using the same obverse die. The type is differentiated by the pellet ends on the arms of the crab beneath the horse. The design is immobilised throughout except for the development of an elogated pseudo flaw below the horse’s neck, and on some the lines from the coffee bean to legs are made of fine pellets.
Sills DK 302: Pellets at end of crab’s arms. No flaw under horse’s neck. Radiate coffee bean (no fine dotted lines). This is VA 1205-01 and VA 1205-05.

Sills chronology: Gallo-Belgic Ca – Insular Cf / Aa Westerham – British Ad (Tarring) – British Af (Lepe) – British B (Chute) – British Da (Curdridge) – British Db (Cheriton).

Comes with previous collectors handwritten label, found near Winchester, Hampshire.

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Belgae

Coin types attributed to the Belgae are extremely varied and, with one notable exception, uninscribed.

Developing onwards from two main stater types (Chute & Cheriton) are an extensive range of quarter-staters. Most common among these are two key issues – the ‘Hampshire Thunderbolt’ (ABC 767/BMC 129–36) and the stylistically more developed ‘Petersfield Wreath’ (ABC 773/BMC 568–70). A further 23 types of quarter-stater are listed by ABC, which show considerable variation in style. Many are obscenely rare, so much so that neither the cabinets of the British Museum nor those of major 20th century British collectors possessed examples. The horse is ubiquitous on the reverses of all these types, while obverses tend towards geometric designs – specifically those of cruciform appearance. Wheels, solar motifs, pellets-in-rings, stylised animals and wreaths abound here, truly reflecting the apogee of ‘Celtic’ art! Selected highlights include the ‘Huxtables Eagles’ (ABC 782/BMC 542–3 and ‘Danebury Scrolls’ types (ABC 791/BMC 539). It is worth noting that the ABC names for many types of the Belgae reference Danebury, the important Hampshire hillfort excavated by Barry Cunliffe in the later 20th century.

Silver units struck in the territory of the Belgae are even more variable than the quarter-staters. Several different stylistic ‘strands’ seem to be visible here. Some employ profile busts of a lunate appearance, which is sometimes combined with multiple crescents to represent the hair (e.g. ABC 836, 839, 923, 926) – a feature which connects them, as with Dobunnic issues, to prototypes deriving from Armorican coinage. By contrast, there are also coins with distinct, helmeted busts. These, like the East Anglian ‘Bury Diadem’, strongly evoke the bust of Roma on Roman Republican denarii. These types include the ‘Hampshire Helmet’, ‘Mossop Helmet’ and, to a lesser extent, the ‘Danebury Sunrays’ (ABC 851, 854, 866/BMC 609, 595–601). Another type whose obverse may take influence from denarii is the sole inscribed issue attributed to the Belgae – the so-called ‘Ex Head’ (ABC 995/BMC 614–28). Other types of silver unit still are entirely zoomorphic and depict only animals. Some of these are entirely conventional, such as the various ‘Danebury Boar’ variants (ABC 872, 875, 878/BMC 637), while others depict beasts of a more fantastical appearance. For example the ‘Danebury Dragon’, which displays a recurved, clawed animal on its obverse (ABC 896/BMC 631–33).

While no bronze coinage appears to be attributable to the Belgae, the group did produce fractional half-units and minims. These comprise a highly diverse suite of types characterised by their extreme rarity.

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