Regini & Atrebates 1st Century BC Selsey Rings ‘Annulets’ Gold Stater *Excessively Rare*

Regini & Atrebates

1st Century BC Selsey Rings ‘Annulets’ Gold Stater

Excessively rare

ABC 494, 16mm, 5.31g

Obverse

Abstracted head of Apollo right, wreath (with inside end of each leaf pointing downwards) curved around face with 6 to 9 leaves on the right-hand side below the hairbar. Sometimes a pellet line down the centre of the wreath. Hair curls behind are standing, small rings (annulets) within hair. Spike (hairbar) ornamented with three pellets, ends in two conjoined arcs. Three linear crescents to right, with two bars between the wreath and the linear crescent ‘ear’ (back crescent). Small anchor between wreath and crescents. Three-line cloak below crescents with pellet (with three radiate spikes) above.

Reverse

Disjointed horse with triple tail with pellet terminals right. Horse’s ear made up of two curves forming oval. Sometimes small annulets and pellets in field. Wheel below, sometimes also pellet. Charioteer’s arm above, sometimes with a pellet, a ringed pellet connected to the horse by pellets, or a three-petal rosette to the right. Before the horse either a cogwheel, cog or pellet.

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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.

M Vosper PT, 04.11.1996.  VA214 variant

This coin comes with a previous label.

 

Atrebates

A distinct grouping whose ancestral heartlands in Britain appear to sit within the region now comprising Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire. Coins from late in the Atrebatic series name their capital, Calleva – which would become the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum (modern Silchester).

Early uninscribed issues struck in the tribe’s British zone of influence include the so-called ‘Westerham’ type staters (ABC 482/BMC 24–32), whose abstract designs are based upon gold Macedonian staters. The Westerham staters themselves probably provided the inspiration for both Belgic staters of the Chute type, as well as later Cranborne Chase staters of the Durotriges. A particularly beautiful type of uninscribed Atrebatic quarter stater with numerous die varieties is the so-called ‘Selsey Dahlia’ (ABC 500/503/BMC 478–94), which displays a flower-like sun design above the reverse horse. Inscribed issues seem to appear from about 30 BC onwards, naming individuals such as Commios, Tincomarus, Eppillus and Verica. Commios appears to have held particular influence, as the latter three issuers all make claim to be his sons upon their coinages – perhaps a way of legitimising their authority.

Regni/Regini

The Regni, sometimes referred to as the Regini, appear to have occupied what is today the western portion of West Sussex – their tribal civitas probably underlying what became the Roman town of Noviomagus Reginorum (Chichester). Regnian coinage is characterised not only by its sheer diversity, but also scarcity. Indeed, many of the key types are extremely rare. This is perhaps exemplified best by many of the tribe’s quarter-staters, of which no fewer than forty varieties are listed by ABC.