Catuvellauni & Trinovantes Cunobelinus c. AD 8-40 Linear Type Gold Stater *Scarce*

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

Corn ear (barley) with clearly-defined central stalk with a double-arc base. Inscription (CA MV) to left and right.

Horse prancing right, with ladder mane. Branch above with pellet above and below. Inscription below – CVN

Minted at Camulodunum, modern-day Colchester, United Kingdom

Scarce

Sharp, central strike from fresh dies with much eye appeal.

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ABC 2774; 19mm, 5.43g

Evans: IX.8 (1864, p. 300, pl. IX).
Evans: IX.9 (1864, p. 301, pl. IX).
Evans: XXII.6 (1890, p. 563, pl. XXII).

Van Arsdell Classification: Trinovantian U, Coinage of Cunobeline, Restoration Period (Heavy Staters), Linear Type Gold Coins. Van Arsdell lists several variants:
VA 1925 – 01: Five pairs of grains. Horse right, CVN below. This is Sills DK 551 (no privy marks).

Sills Linear (14 obverse, 22 reverse dies): North Thames Coinage; Type: Cunobelinus; Staters: Class 2 – Linear. The corn on the earliest dies look like a wreath, which may be where it comes from. The horse most resembles Eppillus’s Cantian Victory (ABC 387). Crosses or pellets in the obverse field or after CVN are likely privy marks. More than one pellet is likely decoration, while a number of dies are damaged.

Sills DK 551: Five grains either side of stalk, CAMV. CVN, no privy marks.

The equivalent quarter is Linear (ABC 2810).

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

M Vosper PT Oct 2002 VA 1925-1

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.