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Gold 1/4 Stater - Cunobelinus Classic A Bow Stem
| Issuer | Catuvellauni and Trinovantes tribes (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 20-43 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | A stylised horse is depicted in motion to the right in the Celtic artistic tradition, with the body rendered in a schematic, abstracted manner and the legs articulated as pellet-and-bar forms. Above and around the horse appear additional pellet ornaments and decorative elements. The legend CVNO is inscribed below the horse in bold Latin capitals, referencing Cunobelin (Shakespeare's Cymbeline), king of the Catuvellauni. A beaded border encircles the design on the right side of the flan. The die work corresponds to the neat engraving style of the Sills Class A series. |
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| Additional information |
Cunobelinus ruled from Camulodunum — modern Colchester — for roughly four decades, longer than any other recorded British Iron Age king. His coinage output was prolific by Celtic standards, but the quarter stater series was almost certainly not for everyday exchange. At 1.3g, these circulated among elites, probably as payment to warriors, tribute tokens, or gift exchange within the aristocratic networks that held tribal confederacies together.
The "Bow Stem" classification within the Classic A series reflects a specific stylistic phase identified by Sills, separating this issue from adjacent types by a single diagnostic element in the plant ornament. That level of die study granularity only became possible with the volume of metal-detector finds recorded through the Portable Antiquities Scheme from the 1990s onward.