Gallo Belgic & Early Uninscribed

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

Nadine — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 12:40:52 +0000

Iceni 1st Century BC Norfolk Wolf Gold Stater

Left Type. Scarce

ABC 1399; 17mm, 5.26g

Obverse – Abstracted head of Apollo left. Wreath with inside edge of laurel leaves facing downwards. Cloak below. Linear crescents to bottom left. Spike (hairbar) ends in arc with separate arc below. Hair curls to right behind wreath.

Reverse – Wolf left, bird on back at rear. Crescent and pellets above. Multiple pellets in arrangement below.

Evans: C3 (1864, p. 72, pl. C).

Allen Type: British Jb.

Mack 49b: British J Norfolk Wolf. Three additional pellets below the wolf.

Van Arsdell Classification: Icenian A, Icenian Earliest Uninscribed Gold Coins, Norfolk Wolf Type.

Talbot Norfolk Wolf B: Like Norfolk Wolf A (ABC 1393) but obverse and reverse are reversed. Struck at three locations (at least), including around Saham Toney and Snettisham. More dies than any Icenian coin with 18 die groups and was hoarded extensively at the later stages, but was struck over a long period of time over which is was debased and reduced in weight.

Talbot Chronology: Gallo-Belgic E/Ingoldisthorpe – Early Local Period I (55BC-35BC) – Early Local Period II (35BC-15BC) – Denominational Period I (15BC-5: Snettisham – Plouviez – Irstead – Early Boar Horse) – Denominational Period II (5-25: Boar Horse B – Boar Horse C) – Denominational Period III (25-45).

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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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Corieltavi c.1st Century BC Gold Stater South Ferribly

Nadine — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 12:19:19 +0000

Corieltavi c.1st Century BC Gold Stater

South Ferribly

Wreath, cloak and crescents / Lunate horse left with anchor face above, star sun below, pellet rosette below head

ABC1743; S390. 18mm, 5.87g.

A great example of type, central and bold on both sides, a pleasing coin in hand.

Found north of Birmingham, West Midlands.

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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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Gallo Belgic Ambiani 1st Century BC Gold Stater

Nadine — Tue, 12 May 2026 12:34:17 +0000

Gallo Belgic Ambiani 1st Century BC Gold Stater

Biface type

Wreathed head right/Sinuous horse right

ABC13; 17mm, 6.37g

A pleasing horse but weak/worn obverse die.

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 114, Aug 2000 lot 1 VA44, Scheers 9, class V

This coin comes with a previous label.

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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Belgae 1st Century BC Cheriton Smiler Gold Stater Rare

Nadine — Tue, 12 May 2026 12:32:25 +0000

Belgae 1st Century BC Cheriton Smiler Gold Stater

Wreath split with 3 corded lines leading to turf cutter/Disjointed horse left with 4 horizontal tails, pellets above, crab below

Rare

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ABC 755; 18mm, 5.05g

A premium coin, well struck from dies which show the eyes as small annulets below the crescents.

Provenance

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

C Rudd FPL 114, no 13. Found Portsmouth, Hants VA 1215

This coin comes with a previous label.

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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Belgae 1st Century BC Cogwheel Smiler Gold Quarter Stater Excessively Rare

Nadine — Tue, 12 May 2026 12:32:25 +0000

Belgae 1st Century BC Cogwheel Smiler Gold Quarter Stater

Turf cutter motif with cogwheel to each side of central corded line/Horse left with floral sun above and comet below

Excessively Rare

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ABC 770 (Plate coin); 11mm, 1.07g

This type seldom offered for sale, 8 known. Probably closely related to the Cheriton Smiler stater.

Provenance

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

SNC CIII 3, no 1625 (March 1995), ABC Plate coin.

This coin comes with a previous label.

Belgae

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

The post Belgae 1st Century BC Cogwheel Smiler Gold Quarter Stater *Excessively Rare* appeared first on Silbury Coins.

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

Nadine — Tue, 12 May 2026 12:32:25 +0000

Iceni 1st Century BC Norfolk Wolf Right Type Gold Stater

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

Scarce

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ABC 1393; 17mm, 6.15g

well struck on a broad flan, full wolf and surrounding detail clear. Obverse off struck but as a result full hair detail shows, a premium coin

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, 1997. Found north of Ely, Norfolk VA 610-1

This coin comes with a previous label.

Iceni

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Regini 1st Century BC Chichester Boar Silver Unit Extremely Rare

Nadine — Tue, 12 May 2026 12:32:24 +0000

Regini 1st Century BC Chichester Boar Silver Unit

Diademed head right with flame like hair/Triple tailed horse right, with human head above and boar below

Extremely Rare

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ABC644 (plate coin); 15mm, 1.39g

well struck on a broad flan, a premium example of this interesting type.

Provenance

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

SNC CII 3, no 2074, 1994. ABC plate coin

This coin comes with a previous label.

Regni/Regini

The Regni, sometimes referred to as the Regini, appear to have occupied what is today the western portion of West Sussex – their tribal civitas probably underlying what became the Roman town of Noviomagus Reginorum (Chichester). Regnian coinage is characterised not only by its sheer diversity, but also scarcity. Indeed, many of the key types are extremely rare. This is perhaps exemplified best by many of the tribe’s quarter-staters, of which no fewer than forty varieties are listed by ABC.

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Regini 1st Century BC Selsey Stockholm Gold Stater Excessively Rare

Nadine — Tue, 12 May 2026 12:32:23 +0000

Regini 1st Century BC Selsey Stockholm Gold Stater

Plain except for slight banding and pellet near edge/Triple tailed horse right with wheel below, complex charioteer’s arm above

Excessively Rare

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ABC521 (plate coin); 17mm, 5.90g

A great rarity in fabulous condition, this enigmatic type is likely to have been amongst the earliest coins struck in Britain, closely copying the Suessiones series. Just 3 known!

Provenance

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

C Rudd FPL 104, no 18. Found Chichester, W Sussex. DK ill. 205 (this coin) ABC Plate coin

This coin comes with a previous label.

Regni/Regini

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Cantiaci 1st C BC Garrad’s Ring Horse Silver Unit Excess. Rare

Nadine — Tue, 12 May 2026 12:32:22 +0000

Cantiaci 1st Century BC Garrad’s Ring Horse Silver Unit

Diademed head right with torc-like ear and crescentic neck line, bucranium before and other animal heads around/Horse right ringed pellet on chest and haunch, animal head above, ringed pellet and neck- torc below

Excessively Rare

ABC240; 15mm, 1.07g

Minor edge chip. 3 known.

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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.

Silbury Coins, April 2012 (find spot unrecorded)

This coin comes with a previous label.

Cantiaci

‘Of all the Britons the inhabitants of Kent, an entirely maritime district, are by far the most civilised, differing but little from the Gallic manner of life.’

Caesar, De Bello Gallico, book V, chapter 13.

The modern county of Kent was, according to the Romans, the homeland of the Cantiaci or Cantii. The closest portion of mainland Britain to the Continent, it is unsurprising that in the Late Iron Age the region boasted strong links with north-east France – a legacy maintained to this day, one could argue, with the continued importance of Dover and Folkestone as key cross-channel ferry ports.

Kent’s earliest Iron Age coins (and indeed, probably the earliest indigenously-produced British coins) are represented by cast bronze pieces called potins, whose alloy has a high tin content. On the basis of single finds and hoards, we know that imported gold in the form of Gallo-Belgic coinage was widely used in Kent at around the same time as the potins.

The somewhat mysterious series of uninscribed Kentish gold, including the so-called ‘Weald Net’ staters (ABC 177/BMC 2466) and ‘Corded Triangle’ quarter staters (ABC 198/BMC 2469–71) were probably struck c. 50–30/25 BC, they perhaps slightly precede a diverse group of uninscribed silver and bronze issues.

Inscribed issues belong towards the end of the Kentish coin-sequence, as is invariably the general case in Late Iron Age Britain. Their production probably began from c. 25 BC onwards and runs onward till shortly before the Claudian invasion. It is worth noting that at this time, Kent seems to have been taken over to varying extents by rulers from neighbouring regions. These rulers in turn came to issue coins in the region, even though they themselves might not originate from it, nor it reflect their main power-base.

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Regini & Atrebates 1st Century BC Selsey Uniface Gold Stater

Nadine — Tue, 12 May 2026 12:32:22 +0000

Regini & Atrebates 1st Century BC Selsey Uniface Gold Stater

Plain/Triple tailed horse right, wheel below and charioteers arms above

ABC488 (Plate coin); 18mm, 5.91g

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Well struck on a large flan, a premium coin. They don’t come better than this.

Provenance

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

C Rudd FPL 57, no 36. Found Berkshire 1999. DK British Q, class 2b, British Qb VA 216. ABC Plate coin.

This coin comes with a previous label.

Atrebates

A distinct grouping whose ancestral heartlands in Britain appear to sit within the region now comprising Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire. Coins from late in the Atrebatic series name their capital, Calleva – which would become the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum (modern Silchester).

Early uninscribed issues struck in the tribe’s British zone of influence include the so-called ‘Westerham’ type staters (ABC 482/BMC 24–32), whose abstract designs are based upon gold Macedonian staters. The Westerham staters themselves probably provided the inspiration for both Belgic staters of the Chute type, as well as later Cranborne Chase staters of the Durotriges. A particularly beautiful type of uninscribed Atrebatic quarter stater with numerous die varieties is the so-called ‘Selsey Dahlia’ (ABC 500/503/BMC 478–94), which displays a flower-like sun design above the reverse horse. Inscribed issues seem to appear from about 30 BC onwards, naming individuals such as Commios, Tincomarus, Eppillus and Verica. Commios appears to have held particular influence, as the latter three issuers all make claim to be his sons upon their coinages – perhaps a way of legitimising their authority.

Regni/Regini

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