Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Gold 1/4 Stater - Eastern North Thames Maldon Wheel
| Issuer | Trinovantes tribe (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 45 BC - 40 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Highly stylised, abstracted head derived from a classical prototype, rendered in the characteristic La Tène Celtic manner. The design field is dominated by flowing, curvilinear motifs representing the decomposed facial features, including bold rope-like strands suggesting hair or a laurel wreath spreading across the flan. A prominent spiral or scroll element appears to the left, while a distinctive small spoked wheel motif — the eponymous 'Maldon Wheel' — is visible in the lower central field. The entire composition is executed in high relief with bold, deeply cut lines typical of Iron Age British hammered coinage. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A stylised horse prancing to the right, rendered in the abstract La Tène artistic tradition characteristic of late Iron Age British coinage. The horse's body is formed from bold, sinuous lines with the limbs reduced to elegant curved strokes, and the mane suggested by a flowing arc above the back. Beneath the horse, a large prominent 'wheel' or ring motif composed of concentric circles and pellets occupies the lower field, serving as the principal identifying device of this Maldon Wheel type. Additional curvilinear and pellet ornaments fill the surrounding field, consistent with the decorative vocabulary of the Eastern North Thames series. No inscription or legend is present, the flan being irregular and of typical hammered fabric. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Trinovantes, based around what is now Essex and Suffolk, were among the most politically significant tribes in pre-Roman Britain — it was their appeal to Julius Caesar against Catuvellaunian aggression that partly drew him back for his second expedition in 54 BC. By the time this quarter stater was struck, the tribe had survived that Roman intervention and was navigating the increasingly volatile power dynamics of southeast Britain without direct Roman military presence.
The "Maldon Wheel" designation reflects a typological grouping tied to finds concentration around the Blackwater estuary. Quarter staters of this weight class circulated as genuine transactional currency, not ceremonial pieces.