Ancient Gold Coins - Sold Archives - 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

View Video Here

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

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.

The post Iceni 1st Century BC Norfolk Wolf Right Type Gold Stater *Scarce* appeared first on Silbury Coins.

Eastern 1st Century BC Gold Tit Cantian Style Gold Quarter Stater Excessively Rare

Nadine — Tue, 12 May 2026 12:31:47 +0000

Eastern 1st Century BC Gold Tit Cantian Style Gold Quarter Stater

Ringed pellet in centre of plain field. Pellet border.

Horse right, beaded mane, single-strand tail. Cogwheel sun (cog) above and below.

Excessively Rare, 9 known.

Crisp and central on both sides, a premium coin.

View Video Here

ABC 2252 (plate coin); 11mm, 1.35g

Sills Ringed Pellet (1 obverse, 7 reverse dies): Early North-West Thames Coinage; Type: Indeterminate and Local Issues; Quarter Staters: Ringed Pellet. Heavier but with a more devolved design, they are perhaps contemporary with the Essex Banded, which are also heavy with a similarly plain obverse. The horse is based on British Lb (ABC 2463).
Sills DK 481: No pellets or ringed pellets around horse.

Sills chronology: Gallo-Belgic Ca – British G (Early Clacton) / Aa Westerham – British La (Whaddon Chase) – British Lb (Westbury) – Local Issues.

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 30, no 68. Found Wheathampstead, Herts 1997. CCI 97.1659. ABC plate coin

This coin comes with a previous label.

Eastern

There are 33 early uninscribed types, found mainly in the eastern part of the North Thames region, especially Essex, which can’t comfortably be attributed either to the Trinovantes of the Catuvellauni. They are mostly extremely rare types – only seven were published by Van Arsdell, and they don’t seem to slot into any of the principle North Thames series. These may be variants struck by the Trinovantes or Catuvellauni or they could have been struck by smaller sub-tribes.

The post Eastern 1st Century BC Gold Tit Cantian Style Gold Quarter Stater *Excessively Rare* appeared first on Silbury Coins.

Trinovantes 1st Century BC Bishop’s Wreath Gold Quarter Stater Excessively Rare

Nadine — Tue, 12 May 2026 12:31:47 +0000

Trinovantes 1st Century BC Bishop’s Wreath Gold Quarter Stater

Wreath with inside end of leaves facing upwards (left-hand leaves are oval ringed pellets) and ringed pellet (with large solid ring) at centre. Row of three crescents (each formed of three arcs) in front, sometimes linked together, the centre crescent sometimes with horizontal lines. Continuous row of stylised hair curls behind wreath.

Horse right, double-strand tail, beaded mane, dog-leg joint on second leg. Wing motif (comb-like curl) and a ringed pellet triad above. Cogwheel sun (cog) below.

Excessively Rare, 9 known

Sharp detail and well struck on both sides, a premium coin.

View Video Here

ABC 2365; 12mm, 1.16g

Sills DK 437 (6 obverse, 6 reverse dies): Early North-East Thames Coinage; Type: British Lc2; Quarter Staters: Class 3b – Bishop’s Wreath. Row of three crescents on obverse is as Harlow Flyer (ABC 2368). Reverse resembles Class 3 staters (ABC 2341).

Sills chronology: Gallo-Belgic Ca – British G (Early Clacton) / Aa Westerham – British Ab (Great Waltham) – Shotley (British F) – British Lc/Ld.

Provenance

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

Timeline Originals PT Oct 2006 CCI 06.0484

This coin comes with a previous label.

Trinovantes

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.

The post Trinovantes 1st Century BC Bishop’s Wreath Gold Quarter Stater *Excessively Rare* appeared first on Silbury Coins.

Maximinus II AD 310-313 Gold Aureus Antioch

Nadine — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:59:20 +0000

Maximinus II AD 310-313 Gold Aureus

Laureate bust right/Maximinus togate standing holding globe and baton

Antioch mint

RCV14806, 19mm, 5.28g

A most appealing portrait of fine, eastern style on the obverse coupled with attractive full portrait of the emperor standing on the reverse, a premium coin showing little sigh of wear.

View Video Here

Maximinus II was born in Illyricum to humble parents. He was the son of a sister of Galerius and because of his family connections he rose rapidly through the ranks of the Roman army. When Galerius became emperor for the east Maximinus was able to secure the elevation of his nephew Maximinus to Caesar.
When the two western emperors, Constantius and Severus died in quick succession There appeared to be a good chance of further promotion however Licinius was appointed instead creating a deep rivalry with both Maximinus and Constantine who had both been overlooked. Although Galerius tried to placate them by granting them the empty titles of Filius Augustorum or Son of Emperors when Galerius died in AD 311 Maximinus seized Asia Minor leaving Licinius with only Thrace.
In addition Maximinus ignored Galerius edict to abandon the persecution of the Christians. Instead he initiated an even more vigorous policy of persecution and issued a series of anonymous coins which celebrated paganism. Civil War with Licinius and Constantine, who had become allies, became inevitable. Maxentius , who was allied with Maximinus, was decisively beaten by Constantine at the Battle of Milivian Bridge in AD 312 leaving Maximinus to conclude an uneasy peace. Licinius and Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in AD 313 allowing religious toleration. This resulted in a final showdown with Maximinus who was defeated. Although Maximinus survived and fled he died a few months later.

The post Maximinus II AD 310-313 Gold Aureus Antioch appeared first on Silbury Coins.

Theodosius II AD 402-450 Gold Solidus Constantinople

Nadine — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 14:46:17 +0000

Theodosius II AD 402-450 Gold Solidus Constantinople

Helmeted bust facing / Constantinopolis enthroned holding globus cruciger and sceptre

RCV21158; 21mm, 4.46g

A sharply struck example showing little sign of wear.

View Video Here

The post Theodosius II AD 402-450 Gold Solidus Constantinople appeared first on Silbury Coins.

Arcadius AD 383-408 Gold Solidus Constantinople

Nadine — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 13:54:00 +0000

Arcadius AD 383-408 Gold Solidus

Helmeted bust facing

Constantinople

RCV20706; 20mm, 4.49g

View Video Here

A sharply struck example with little wear and much original lustre.

Arcadius was the eldest son of Theodosius and Aelia Flaccilla and was born before his father was elevated to the eastern throne in AD379. He was co emperor with his father for 12 years until his elevation as sole emperor of the Eastern empire upon his father’s death in AD 395. Married to Aelia Eudoxia he had 5 children including Theodosius II who succeeded him as emperor in AD 408.
Largely untalented and ineffective his wife Aelia Flaccilla together with the praetorian prefect Rufinus effectively ruled the Eastern empire until Aelia’s death in AD 404. Rufinus also became increasingly estranged from Honorius, Arcadius’ brother and from AD 393 co emperor of the Western empire. There was also an intense rivalry between Rufunus and Honorius’ chief minister Stilicho which resulted in an estrangement between the 2 empires. This period saw the transfer of power to ambitious deputies, some of who were of barbarian origin. This weakened the authority of the emperors and eventually led to the collapse of the Western empire. The Easten empire was more fortunate as Arcadius’ daughter Pulcheria proved to be a capable administrator during the reign of Theodosius II who succeed.

The post Arcadius AD 383-408 Gold Solidus Constantinople appeared first on Silbury Coins.

Macedon Alexander III The Great 336-323 BC Gold Stater

Nadine — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 12:00:39 +0000

Macedon Alexander III The Great 336-323 BC Gold Stater

Athena in helmet right / Nike standing left

17mm, 8.56g

Comes with old label

View Video Here

This coin comes from the Cambridge collection of Ancient Greek Coinage. This extensive collection was formed over 40 years by a couple who shared their passion for classical history, carefully collecting as many known types as were available, spending hours labelling each coin and fitting it in to their collection. The kingdom of Ancient Greece is not easy to understand but illustrated with these wonderful coins a map emerges and being so beautiful in their design, they are a pleasure to handle. As with any collection the time comes where it must be passed on and in this case the collectors decided to sell each coin individually to give the next generation of enthusiasts the opportunity to select pieces for their own collections. Many of the coins have previous labels.

Alexander III of Macedon, known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to the throne at the age of twenty and spent most of his ruling years on an extensive military campaign through Asia and north east Africa, creating one of the largest empires of the ancient world by thirty years of age. It stretched from Greece to north western India. Alexander was undefeated in battle and is considered one of the most successful military commanders throughout history.

The post Macedon Alexander III The Great 336-323 BC Gold Stater appeared first on Silbury Coins.