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Gold Plated 1/4 Stater - East Wiltshire Savernake Wheel Contemporary Counterfeit
| Issuer | Dobunni tribe (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 55 BC - 45 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Stylised, abstracted head of Apollo facing right, rendered in the late Iron Age Celtic tradition with highly schematised facial features derived from classical prototypes. The wreath is reduced to a decorative linear pattern, with pelleted crescents disposed below the head, and a prominent pelleted spike projecting from the design. The treatment reflects the characteristic British Celtic artistic convention of geometric abstraction rather than naturalistic portraiture. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Contemporary counterfeits of Dobunni quarter staters are poorly understood but genuinely ancient — struck or cast by parties operating outside tribal authority, almost certainly to pass in daily exchange rather than for ritual or burial deposit. The gold-plated bronze construction points to deliberate deception rather than base-metal substitution, requiring someone with working knowledge of surface enrichment or foil application techniques. Whether this reflects organized fraud or opportunistic small-scale production remains unresolved.
The Savernake Wheel type takes its name from the forest territory in east Wiltshire, placing this piece geographically on the eastern margins of Dobunnic circulation zones, where oversight of coinage quality would have been weakest.