Durotriges c.58 BC-AD 43 Cranborne Chase Silver Stater

Durotriges c.58 BC-AD 43 Cranborne Chase Silver Stater

Obverse: Abstract head of Apollo right. Wreath with inside end of leaves up. Hairbar ends in arc. Cloak below. Two linear crescents to right. Hair curls to left.

Reverse: Disjointed horse left, rectangular head, body of crescents, four vertical legs, three roughly parallel, roughly horizontal lines for tail. Large pellet below. Twelve pellets and tiny elliptical pellet above. Coffee bean above tail.

ABC 2157, S365; 18mm, 4.35g

Comes with rough find area provenance.

The Durotriges tribe occupied modern day Dorset with part of adjoining Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire. There is some mystery over the precise arrangement and correct attribution of coinage in the South-west, the Chute stater is probably struck by the Durotriges tribe but in recent years has been attributed to the Belgae.

The quick debasement of precious metal in the silver staters struck by the Durotriges would suggest an issue with the supply of silver to the area in the early first century AD, perhaps linked to the Roman conquest of West Gaul.