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Bronze Unit 'Curly Lion'
| Issuer | Cantii tribe |
|---|---|
| Year | 50 BC - 20 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 15 mm |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A lion passant to the left occupies the central field, depicted in a boldly stylised Celtic manner with exaggerated, abstract musculature and a prominent curving tail. A pentagram or star-like geometric symbol is placed beneath the lion's body in the lower field. The field is further adorned with scattered pellets and annulets, and the design is contained within a beaded or rope-pattern border consistent with the artistic conventions of Cantian bronze coinage of the late Iron Age period. |
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| Mintage | ND (50 BC - 20 BC) |
| Additional information |
The Cantii occupied the territory of modern Kent and were among the tribes Caesar encountered directly during his invasions of 55 and 54 BC. Whether this issue predates or postdates that contact is unresolved, but the tribe's geographical position — the closest British land to Gaul — meant they absorbed continental Gaulish coin types earlier and more thoroughly than most other British groups. ABC 282 is a product of that absorption, the zoomorphic treatment on these bronzes showing clear Gaulish antecedents filtered through insular taste.
Bronze units of the Cantii are significantly scarcer as excavated finds than their gold staters, likely reflecting differential survival rather than original mintage ratios.