1867 Victorian gold half Sovereign

1842 Victorian gold half Sovereign

North Thames type Celtic gold stater 5.54g - 16.93

'many thanks for this one, a rare one indeed. It's an example of VA 1509, also in the BM catalogue (BMC 350) and no. 34 in 'Coins of England'. It usually has a couple of S shapes on the obverse, although I can't see any traces of them here - the obverse is sometimes worn though. It seems to be a North Thames type, to judge from the few provenances available, but there are only six examples previously recorded so it is a rare type. I would guess quite early too, perhaps 40s BC. Certainly one of the best Celtic you've had so far, thanks! It'll be CCI 06.0195'.

50BC Gallo Belgic Celtic gold stater 6.24g - 16.58mm

'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'.

70BC Morini 'boat tree' Celtic gold 1/4 stater 1.45g, 11.61mm - CCI 06.0187

'The G-B quarter is a lovely coin, looks very sharp. There is a distinctive class of these which have all the little crosses around the 'boat' - they're not uncommon, but not always as nice as this'.

50BC Trinovantes Celtic gold (Clacton type)1/4 stater - 1.13g, 13.71g

CCI 06.0188

The Clacton quarter is one of those where the wear on the obverse makes it look as though there's a face - and perhaps the Celts who saw the coin thought that too, although it is based on the same boat that appears on the Gallo-Belgic coin. Again it's not particularly rare, at least not anymore - there are a good dozen or more from this obverse die, and probably this reverse too although it's difficult to be sure from this image'.

CCI 05.0751

'Snettisham' type ? Celtic gold full stater 5.85g - 17.05mm

'Having seen this one I've had to think again about 05.0680, the Whaddon Chase type I wrote about earlier. Although quite different in their individual style these are probably both the same variety of WC stater, actually listed as VA 1498. This is a rather puzzling type because it's not clear whether it really belongs to the WC group or - as you suggested - the Snettisham type. There are 18 examples of it here and those with findspots are a mixture of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk - on that basis it could arguably be either WC or Snettisham. In terms of style, they are perhaps among the very last WC staters rather than being the first Snettisham, which appear to have been based on the Whaddon Chase design. In terms of date this might only be a difference of a few months, and almost certainly not more than a few years, so it's perhaps unreasonable to expect we'll be able to tie it down quite so neatly. CCI 05.0687'.

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'.

45 BC Addedomaros Celtic gold stater 5.63g, 17.96mm

CCI 05.0678

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.

45 BC Addedomaros Celtic gold full stater 5.51g - 19.05 m

This one will be CCI 05.0667.

As you say, a very well-used reverse die. I think I recognize the die - after looking at these quite intensively over the last year or two, the individual dies start to become recognizable. The obverse is on the other hand pretty sharp, and must have been struck from a fairly fresh die.'

45 BC Addedomaros Celtic gold full stater

'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'

45 BC Addedomaros Celtic gold full stater

'Well, this is a nice one, and as you say with those intriguing symbols above the horse visible. What they seem to be is three horse's muzzles - on some dies they are virtually identical to the muzzle actually on the horse. Curiously, at roughly the same time that Addedomaros was using this motif on his staters, so was Commios, down in Hampshire. In fact since Commios is generally dated a little earlier than Addedomaros, it's not impossible that the latter encountered one of Commios's staters and decided to copy this feature. It quite often appears blundered, which suggests that the die engravers didn't always know what they were looking at. I'll record this one as CCI 05.0603, and I look forward to more!

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.

Addedomaros 45- 30 BC - 5.56g 17mm

CCI 05.0211

Celtic stater of Addedomaros 37 - 33 BC 5.50g 17mm

Thanks to Philip at the CCI for this update 'a very nice example of the Addedomaros spiral stater, VA 1620. Lots of them about now (150 plus) but this is a very decent example - though as usual without a trace of the reverse inscription, all off the edge of the flan. VA's dating is a bit unrealistic, I would suggest anywhere between 45 and 30 BC, but certainly a little later than the Gallo-Belgic stater you recorded before. This one will be CCI 05.0196.

50 BC Gallo Belgic Celtic Stater and Edward III 1361 third issue hammerd gold 1/2 Noble ( picture on right are gold straightened) - 3.78g 26mm

'Your coin of Edward III is a half noble of the Pre-Treaty coinage, with a Series C obverse and a Series A reverse. There are many 'mules' of this kind in the Pre-Treaty coinage, and this one can probably be dated to 1351. I can see why you thought that this might be a coin of the third period, which has lettering that is fairly similar to Series A lettering.'

'This is an example of the Clacton 1/4 stater - it's not listed in VA, but there's one in the British Museum catalogue, at BMC 192 (where it's incorrectly attributed to the Corieltauvi). These coins were virtually unknown until the 1980s, but we now have records of more than 50 of them, predominantly from Essex, and it seems certain to be the quarter stater type associated with the full Clacton stater. There is strong Gallo-Belgic influence, as you mention - the obverse seems to be copied from the 'three men in a boat' design found on the imported Gallo-Belgic quarter staters, while the reverse is indeed nearly identical to the Clacton stater type. Its date is probably c. 50 BC.

This one will be in the Index as CCI 04.2136'.

1891 Victorian full Sovereign (SH)

1783 George III full gold guinea(SH)

Solid gold mount around a monk stone. Modern

Gold coins from 70 BC to 1900 AD

17 Golds's were found this season. 7 Celtic, 4 Victorian, 3 George III, 1 George II, 1 USA and part of an Edward Gold Angel. My 1/4 Celtic gold was found 8 years ago now so I am well overdue for another one !!

Cunobelin (Colchester Celtic King) gold Qtr stater 10 to 40 AD found by me 1.23g 10mm

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