Belgae 1st Century BC Chute/Cheriton Transitional Gold Stater *Scarce*

Belgae

1st Century BC Chute/Cheriton Transitional Gold Stater

Scarce

ABC 752, 18mm, 5.95g

A large and attractive coin in hand.

Obverse

Abstract head of Apollo right. Wreath, inside end of leaves pointing up. Hairbar (spike) ending in long arc. Cloak and two linear crescents below. Sometimes one or more pellet triangles to the right of the wreath.

Reverse

Disjointed horse left, rectangular body made of two curved segments. Four, sometimes three parallel lines behind legs. Many pellets above, sometimes linked into a lattice. Four-arm spiral in front, often blundered. Small arc or linear (sometimes elongated) teardrop under neck. Coffee bean behind (with no lines attached to it). Four-pronged pellet crab below with very long arms, sometimes with small pellets around. Exergual line with zigzag and pellets below.

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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.

Spink PT, 14.11.1997  VA1210-1

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.