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Bronze Unit Bear and Bull
| Issuer | Cantii tribe (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 50 BC - 25 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 12 mm |
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| Obverse description | A bear depicted in profile moving to the right, rendered in the schematic, abstracted style characteristic of Late Iron Age Celtic coinage. A small bird perches upon the bear's back, a distinctive iconographic feature of this Cantian type. The lower portion of the design is bounded by an exergual line composed of a row of pellets. The surrounding border is formed by a ring of raised pellets. No legend or inscription is present. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | ND (50 BC - 25 BC) |
| Additional information |
The Cantii occupied the territory now roughly equivalent to Kent, and by the mid-first century BC their coinage was being produced under pressure — Caesar's two invasions in 55 and 54 BC had imposed tribute obligations and reshaped political alliances across the southeast. Small bronze units like this one likely served local exchange rather than cross-tribal trade, circulating in a region that was by this period more commercially integrated with northern Gaul than most of Roman-era Britain would later become.
Van Arsdell's sequencing places this type among the later Cantian bronzes, after the adoption of more regular flan preparation.