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¼ Stater with boat biface
| Issuer | Morini (Gallia Belgica) |
|---|---|
| Year | 70 BC - 50 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Stater |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Stylized openwork boat motif rendered in bold relief, occupying the central field. The hull is depicted in schematic form with two prominent masts rising from the vessel and a single globule marking the bow. The surrounding field is decorated with a border of small star-shaped or pellet-in-annulet ornaments arranged around the periphery, characteristic of the abstract Celtic artistic tradition of the Morini tribe. The design is executed in the highly stylized La Tène artistic idiom, with deep, confident die-cutting producing strong contrasts between relief elements and the plain field. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Morini occupied the coastal marshlands of what is now the Pas-de-Calais and Belgian littoral — territory Caesar described as nearly impenetrable, and which his legions never fully subdued. This quarter stater belongs to a coinage tradition that likely facilitated cross-Channel exchange with southeastern Britain, and the boat motif is almost certainly a functional reference rather than a decorative one: the Morini controlled the shortest crossing to Britain and almost certainly profited from it.
The tight clustering of references — DT, LT, Van Arsdell, Mack — reflects decades of scholarly effort to untangle the coinages of the Channel tribes, where die links and metallurgical analysis have done more than typology alone to establish attributions.