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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 | Gold |
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| Obverse description | Central design featuring a stylised ear of barley or wheat rendered in bold Celtic artistic style, with a prominent central stem bearing rounded grain pellets arranged symmetrically on both sides, terminating at the base in a curved bow-shaped stem. The legend CA-MV appears in Latin characters to the upper right of the field, executed with short neat serifs characteristic of the Classic A type. The flan is irregularly shaped and the fields show the characteristic textured surface of a hammered gold coin. The overall composition is typical of the late Celtic coinage issued at Camulodunum under Cunobelinus. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | CA-MV |
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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.