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1/4 Stater 'Dobunnic A'
| Issuer | Dobunni tribe |
|---|---|
| Year | 35 BC - 30 BC |
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| Currency | Stater |
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| Obverse description | Highly abstracted and deeply stylised rendering of an Apollo head, derived ultimately from Macedonian prototypes via Gaulish intermediaries. The design is reduced to a series of flowing, curvilinear ridges and pellet clusters dispersed across the flan, with only faint vestiges of the original facial features discernible. The field is irregular and shows characteristic hammered surfaces with raised swirling forms typical of Late Iron Age Celtic die-cutting. No legend or inscription is present. The overall composition reflects the advanced degree of artistic abstraction characteristic of the Dobunnic coinage tradition. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A celticised horse rendered in vigorous, stylised form advances to the right, its body composed of bold, flowing curves articulated with pellet and crescent ornaments. Three sinuous, curving tails fan out behind the hindquarters, a distinctive hallmark of the Dobunnic A series. Above the horse, a prominent sunburst motif — formed by a rayed or toothed wheel — is accompanied by a central pellet, with additional crescent and annulet decorations filling the field. Below the horse, wavy linear elements suggest ground or abstract decorative filler. No inscription or legend is present. |
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| Additional information |
The Dobunni occupied the Cotswolds region and parts of what is now Gloucestershire and Somerset, and their coinage was struck in the decades immediately before Roman contact fundamentally altered the political order of southern Britain. This quarter stater series represents the earliest phase of Dobunnic gold production, predating the named rulers — Anted, Eisu, Catti, Comux, Bodvoc — whose names appear on later issues. Whether the anonymous series was issued by a single authority or reflects a pre-dynastic coinage tradition shared across the tribe remains unresolved among specialists.
The Mack 68 classification places this firmly in the primary Dobunnic sequence, struck from alluvial gold almost certainly sourced from Welsh river deposits.