Celtic gold coin finds

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Celtic coins were produced in two ways, conventionally described as struck and cast. Both methods required a considerable degree of technical knowledge to ensure successful results.

The process of striking a coin began with the production of a blank. This was probably formed in a clay mould, but it is still uncertain how the metal alloy was placed in the mould. It probably wasn't poured in, which would make precise weight control difficult, but perhaps put into the mould in powder or nugget form, or possibly as sections from carefully measured ingots.

Celtic dies were made of iron and/or bronze. They are extremely rare, since they were clearly carefully looked after while they were in use, and thus very rarely lost, and they were often used to destruction.. The quality of engraving on many dies is superb, and it is difficult to imagine how some tiny details were engraved on dies just a few millimetres in diameter.

The engraving ability of the moneyers was matched by their control of the weight and alloy of the coinage. They were capable of producing thousands of coins deviating just a few milligrams each side of the intended weight, and they could make subtle alterations to the quality of the alloy, masking a decrease in the precious metal content.

Most gold and silver Celtic coins also occur as plated forgeries. They were produced by coating a base metal core with gold or silver alloy before striking took place, either by dipping the core in molten alloy, or by hammering a thin layer of gold or silver around the core until it bonded with the base metal. Dies used for genuine coins were sometimes also used for plated examples; alternatively, dies could be faked by making a cast from a mould bearing the impression of a genuine coin, or by pressing a genuine coin into soft metal which was then hardened to form a die; sometimes the design of a coin was simply copied onto a new die, resulting in the reversal of the correct image.

The production of cast coins required very different techniques. The cast coins from south-east Britain were produced by pouring molten alloy into a set of moulds joined by runners, which were broken apart when the metal had cooled. The breaks were not always neat and often parts of the sprue - the joining portion between the coins - remain attached to the coin itself.

The earliest examples of these coins in Britain have relatively fine images, which were presumably made by pressing a coin into the mould. As this process was successively repeated, the quality of the image being reproduced became ever worse, eventually becoming a featureless blob

45 BC Addedomaros Addedomaros (King) of TRINOVANTES

Location of the tribe
Essex and part of Suffolk

The Trinovantian Kings
Identified from Coinage Evidence

Addedomaros Was the next identifiable ruler of the Trinovantes after Mandubracius in Caesar's time, though it is not known whether any others preceeded him. Almost immediately upon his succession to the throne sometime between 25 to 15BC, he moved his centre of government from Braughing on the eastern headwaters of the river Lea to a new site on the east coast which he named 'the fort of the war god Camulos', or Camulodunum. It is possible that he either warred with or was client to Tasciovanus, for around 15-10BC the Catuvellaunian monarch produced a coin issue with the mint mark CAMV[lodunum]. He reigned for about a decade or so before being succeeded by his son Dubnovellaunus c.10-5BC. It is possible Mandubracius died intestate or leaving no heirs; the family of Addedomaros, possibly championed by his father, succeeded to the throne after a brief struggle between the remaining Trinovantian noble houses; the Catuvellaunian king Tasciovanus later claimed that he was the true heir to the thone (perhaps his mother was the daughter of Mandubracius) and went to war on that pretext; thanks primarily to the interest of Rome, Tasciovanus was forced to withdraw and Addedomaros resumed the throne.]
Dubnovellaunus Succeeded Addedomaros to the Trinovantian throne c.10-5BC and ruled for several years before being supplanted by Cunobelin of the Catuvellauni. Like his contemporary Tincommius of the Atrebates, he appeared as a suppliant to Augustus and paid tribute on the Capitol in Rome before AD7. He should not be confused with Dubnovellaunus of the Cantiaci.

45 BC Addedomaros Celtic gold coin 5.58g, 15.72mm CCI 05.0752 found by Mass Bruce

Addedomarus 45BC Celtic gold full stater 17.75mm, 5.64g

45 BC Addedomaros Celtic gold full stater found by Florida Don

'this one's a real cracker!

Certainly one of the best I've recorded in recent years, with just a little wear, as you say. The quality of the engraving is also extremely high - I'm sure these must have been among the first dies engraved for this type. The horse's muzzles which I mentioned last time are particularly neat here, it's really unusual to see them quite so clearly. I also suspect, though I haven't worked out how to prove it yet, that the coins with the pellets between the spiral arms are the earlier examples of this type.

I'll record this one as CCI 05.0655'

Addedomaros type 45- 30 BC - 5.53g 18mm

CCI 05.0290 Veggie Mike

Addedomaros type 45- 30 BC 5.62g 17mm

CCI 05.0291 Mass Linda

Addedomaros type 45- 30 BC 5.63g17mm

CCI 05.0293 Mass Bruce

Addedomaros type 45- 30 BC 5.57g 16mm

CCI 05.0292 Mass Bruce

Addedomaros 45- 30 BC, Chicago Keith's and Chicago Ron's full Celtic staters

Left example 5.64g 16mm CCI 05.0212
Right example 5.54 g 17mm CCI 05.0213

Addedomaros 45- 30 BC found by Palatine Bob - 5.56g 17mm

CCI 05.0211

Celtic stater of Addedomaros 37 - 33 BC found by Arkansas Gary

CCI No 04.0678

'this is a very good example, both sides nice and sharp. I'm doing some detailed work on the dies of this type at the moment, there are quite a lot - something like 25-30 obverse dies and maybe 50 for the reverse - so it must have been quite a sizeable coinage, probably produced over a number of years. Somewhere between about 45 - 25 BC is probably a reasonable guess'.

Celtic gold 1/4 stater Addedomaros Floral Trinovantes tribe, 30 BC found by Billericay Mark

'CCI No 04.0680 is the quarter stater, VA 1623. Probably an issue of Addedomaros, so similar date to the stater VA 1620, although since there's no inscription we can't be certain. The style of the horse is very like other coins of Addedomaros though so it's a reasonable guess. Just under 60 of these recorded'.

Trinovantes Celtic gold 1/4 stater 50BC- 1.29g 14mm found by Mass Bruce

'yet another very interesting coin. This is a Clacton quarter stater, unlisted in Van Arsdell but in the British Museum catalogue (in the wrong place, with the Corieltauvi) as BMC 192, and in 'Coins of England' as no. 42. These coins were almost unknown in the late 1980s, but there are now about 60 of them recorded here, mostly from Essex and Suffolk. The reverse design is basically the same as the better-known Clacton stater (VA 1455), while the obverse has yet another interpretation of the three men in a boat design, here with two 'men', and sometimes looking like a human face. Unfortunately not readily visible on this one, though you should be able to pick out the outline of the boat.

Of those 60 or so examples, possibly as few as two are struck from the same reverse die as this coin, which has several large flaws and is probably from late in the series (as the use of a nearly plain obverse die also suggests). Both of the earlier two coins came from Suffolk, one from Ipswich and the other near Alderton. The type probably dates to c. 50 BC and was definitely a production of the Trinovantes.

CCI 05.296.

Trinovantes Clacton type Celtic gold 1/4 stater 50BC 1.25g, 12.94mm

'Clacton quarter is CCI 07.0124. The Clacton looks like one of the last issues of the type, with a fairly simple design of a mass of pellets over the horse

Hard to imagine the skill required in those days to to put two thin gold sheets over a bronze inner. Contemporary forgery of 'Clacton' type gold stater circa 70 BC

Cunobelin tribe full stater AD 20 found by Boston Al

'CCI No 04.0679 is the Cunobelin wild type stater, VA 1933-1. Again a nice example, 75 of the basic VA 1933 type recorded although there are some minor variations in the size of the star over the horse (Van Arsdell splits them into small and large, but it's not always easy to decide where small ends and large begins!). Probably somewhere around the middle of his reign, perhaps c. 20 - 25 AD'.

Cunobelin Gold full stater 10 to 40 AD found by Texas John

Celtic coin Index as CCI 03.0811.

3 - 40AD Cunoblein staters found by Virginia Brian as a hoard

CCI 04.0477 'classic A' series, VA 2027-1. Generally believed to have been the last major series of his gold, so probably dating from the 30s AD. There are three or four matches for this particular pair of dies in the CCI, among the c. 100 of the basic type. The decoration at the base of the corn-ear is a bit more showy than usual.

CCI 04.0478 'plastic A' series, VA 2010-3. Believed to have preceded the classic type, so perhaps from c. 25 - 35 AD. About ninety of these are recorded here, and again there are a number of matches for both of these dies, including at least one coin in the British Museum (BMC 1819 in Hobbs's Catalogue of Iron Age coins in the BM).

CCI 04.0479 'linear' series, VA 1925-1. The earliest of these three, perhaps from c. 20 AD, and a little rarer, with about 60 recorded here. Again there is a coin in the BM from the same pair of dies, BMC 1783. There are a couple of rather unusual features to the dies - although not clear on your example because of the position it has been struck, there appears to be no V on the end of CAMV, and there's also a mark - perhaps some kind of privy mark - after the CVN on the reverse, you can just see the top of what looks like a letter I between the N and the horse'sfront legs on your coin.

Other tribes

Morini :Occupied the territory nearest to Britain, overlooking the Fretum Gallicum (Strait of Dover), their major towns were Gesoriacum/Bononia and Tarvenna, known nowadays as Boulogne and Thérouanne, both in the Artois region of France.

 

Celtic gold stater Norfolk wolf type 65-45 BC found by Alaskan Todd

'CCI No 04.0681 is the Norfolk wolf. Another nice coin, c. 50 BC. The basic type is common (over 300 coins) but there are minor variations in the design, and this appears to be a rare variant with a sort of stick below the wolf rather than the usual crescent and pellet. I haven't checked through all the records but from memory there are no more than half a dozen or so from this die variant'.

One of a kind Celtic gold 1/4 stater found by Alaskan George

Latest views from the experts

"it's an early (perhaps c. 50-40 BC) quarter stater, possibly produced in Essex.
It seems to have developed out of the Gallo-Belgic D quarter stater (Van Arsdell
69), imported in large quantities into Britain from Belgic Gaul, possibly with
some influence from the so-called 'Kentish trophy type' (Van Arsdell 147) of a
very similar period.

This particular type is unpublished in any major catalogue,

50BC Gallo Belgic Celtic gold stater 6.24g - 16.58mm found by Ark Jack

'This'll be CCI 06.0190. Difficult to say exactly which class of uniface stater it is with this amount of wear - indeed it's quite unusual to see one which is this worn, it looks as though it knocked about a bit before being lost/deposited'.

Chicago Ron's Celtic gold stater 'Whadden Chase' type 5.95g, 17.68 mm

The Whaddon Chase stater (yes, it is that type) will be CCI 05.0680. These coins are probably not very much earlier than the Addedomaros staters - it all depends really on when one dates the Addedomaros issue. It seems fairly certain that the Whaddon Chase staters could be from the later stages of the Gallic War, say about 54 BC at the earliest; they could be a little bit later, but are unlikely to be after say 40 BC at the very latest. If Addedomaros's spiral staters are his latest stater issues, then they could be somewhere around 30-25 BC, so perhaps up to 25 years later than Whaddon Chase. It just depends where each type fits, and we don't have an exact idea. I suppose it's true to say though that there is almost certainly a minimum of ten years between them, and more likely 20.

One of my colleagues recently suggested that the WC staters were issued by Cassivellaunus, to pay off Caesar during the Gallic War. They certainly seem to be found mostly in the territory of the Catuvellauni (so this one would be a bit further east than usual . The main catalogue reference for this type is VA 1476 in Van Arsdell's 'Celtic Coinage of Britain'. They're relatively common (300 or so recorded) but a lot of these are finds from the original WC hoard, found in Bucks in 1849.

Wis Dave's 1/4 Uninscribed Celtic gold stater 1.43g, 12.98mm

'Yes, this is interesting. It's an uninscribed quarter stater, traditionally attributed to the Atrebates (in the South Thames) but almost certainly a North Thames issue. We have records of about 25 of them, and without exception they've come from the North Thames area: it was previously attributed to the Atrebates because of the style, which resembles their uninscribed quarter staters with a wreath on the obverse. The date of this quarter would be around c. 45 BC, I would estimate, so like the Whaddon Chase it could be just a little earlier than the Addedomaros coins. It is catalogued in Van Arsdell as VA 260-1, but not only wrongly as Atrebates but also listed as silver. Many of the surviving examples are struck from the same pair of dies, which develop some fairly major flaws, especially on the reverse; the lack of many dies suggests this wasn't a very big issue, in comparison to the Addedomaros spiral for example.

If I remember rightly there are one or two examples of this type in the huge East Leicestershire hoards which came up about 3 years ago, but mostly they're Essex/Suffolk area. This'll be CCI 05.0683'.