Catuvellauni & Trinovantes Cunobelinus c. AD 8-40 Biga Type Gold Quarter Stater *Very Rare*

Catuvellauni & Trinovantes Cunobelinus c. AD 8-40 Biga Type Gold Quarter Stater

Inscription (CAMVL with ligate letters) in plain-line tablet with ringed pellets at either end, in centre of vertical wreath of small horizontal leaves either side of a solid line enclosed in round-cornered panels. Heart shaped ‘faces’ and splayed pellet V-shapes in opposite angles.

Biga (two-horse chariot) left with Roman Republic-style horses. Large leaf above, sometimes with pellet below. Four-spoked wheel below. Inscription (CVNO) below.

Minted at Camulodunum, modern-day Colchester, United Kingdom

Very Rare

A superb example of type, central strike with all detail clear and complete inscriptions on both sides.

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ABC 2807; 10mm, 1.36g

Van Arsdell Classification: Trinovantian T, Coinage of Cunobeline, Restoration Period (Heavy Staters), Biga Type Gold Coins.

Rainer Kretz, “The biga gold of Cunobelinus”, BNJ 80, 2010:

Kretz Type B (Late):
Sills Biga (11 obverse, 10 reverse dies): North Thames Coinage; Type: Cunobelinus; Quarter Staters: Class 1 – Biga. A simplified version of the stater (ABC 2771).

Sills DK 573 var. 5 (Kretz B1): CAMVL with A-M-V ligate (bar on A often omitted) in plain-line panel, heart in top right and bottom left quadrants. Four-spoked wheel below horses, sometimes with pellets in quadrants of wheel. See CCI 95.0571, CCI 96.1101.

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

C Rudd FPL 16, no 28. Found Colchester, Essex 1994. Martin Thompson coll. COE Plate coin S290 (2026) VA 1913-1

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.