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Gold Plated 1/4 Stater Kentish Horse Brooch / South Thames Banded Type Contemporary Counterfeit
| Issuer | Cantii tribe (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 35 BC - 30 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Plain, heavily corroded field retaining traces of gold plating over a bronze core, now largely oxidised to dark grey-brown with patches of green cuprite. Three raised horizontal bands traverse the flan in the characteristic South Thames Banded style, rendered in low relief with minimal additional ornament. The surface exhibits the pitted, irregular texture typical of a contemporary counterfeit struck from an improvised die, with the gold wash surviving only in scattered areas. No inscription or additional devices are present. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Contemporary counterfeits of Kentish quarter staters circulated alongside genuine gold issues during the late Iron Age, suggesting either that the Cantii's trading networks were loose enough to absorb debased coinage without immediate detection, or that the plated pieces were tolerated as a matter of practical necessity. The bronze core with gold wash would have passed casual inspection; the weight loss, just fractions of a gram below genuine examples, was unlikely to register without deliberate testing.
BMC Iron 374 is the key reference tying this piece to the South Thames Banded classification rather than treating it as a forgery of later manufacture.