Gold Plated 1/4 Stater - Regni Two Crescents Contemporary Counterfeit

Contemporary counterfeits of Gallo-Belgic and southern British stater fractions are well-documented across the archaeological record, and their existence tells us something direct about economic pressure rather than criminal opportunism — the shortage of genuine high-denomination coinage in pre-conquest Britain was chronic enough that plated copies circulated alongside authentic issues without apparent rejection. This piece, a plated bronze core beneath a gold wash imitating the Regni two-crescent type, was almost certainly produced locally, possibly within the same tribal territory as the genuine issues it copies.

The BMC Iron Age reference 551 places authenticated examples firmly within the Atrebatic cultural sphere during the mid-first century BC.