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Gold 1/4 Stater Apollo Geometric
| Issuer | Durotriges tribe (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 65 BC - 58 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1/4 Stater |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Highly stylised and disjointed Celtic interpretation of the head of Apollo, rendered in the characteristically abstract La Tène artistic tradition. The facial features are reduced to a series of curvilinear relief elements, with sinuous lines suggesting the hair and jaw, set against a plain field. To the right of the design, a regular grid arrangement of nine pellets fills the field, a motif derived from the laurel wreath of the Classical prototype. No legend or inscription is present, consistent with Durotrigan coinage of this period. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | ND (65 BC - 58 BC) |
| Additional information |
The Durotriges occupied the hillforts of modern Dorset and Somerset, and their coinage represents one of the most dramatic degradation sequences in Celtic numismatics — each generation of dies drifting further from the original Macedonian gold stater prototype until the imagery dissolved almost entirely into abstract geometry. This quarter stater sits near the end of that process.
By the late first century BC, Durotrigan gold was already giving way to a debased cast bronze coinage, one of the few Celtic groups to make that transition before the Claudian invasion ended their minting entirely in 43 AD.