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Gold Plated 1/4 Stater Sunburst Little Horse / Dobunnic Abstract Type Contemporary Counterfeit
| Issuer | Dobunni tribe (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 35 BC - 30 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Obverse description | Abstract Celtic wreath design in the Dobunnic tradition, rendered in debased imitation of the quarter stater type. A central spike or boss is flanked by three large pellets arranged radially, with a sunburst motif extending across the field. A pair of crescents occupies the lower register, characteristic of the Dobunnic abstract stylistic idiom. The design is executed with irregular strike typical of a contemporary counterfeit produced in gold-plated bronze. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A stylised triple-tailed horse advancing to the right, rendered in the highly abstract Celtic manner characteristic of Dobunnic coinage. A cogwheel or spoked-wheel solar motif is positioned above the horse in the upper field. Below the horse, a small subsidiary figure interpreted as a stylised foal or abstract animal device occupies the lower field. The design elements are freely adapted from the Dobunnic quarter stater prototype, with execution consistent with a contemporary imitation struck in gold-plated bronze on an irregular flan. |
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| Additional information |
Contemporary counterfeits of Dobunnic quarter staters are well-documented and were produced close enough in time and place to the originals that they circulated freely alongside them. The gold-plated bronze construction — a bronze flan with a thin wash of gold — was not crude deception by modern standards; in a pre-assay economy where coin value was partly fiduciary, such pieces passed without systematic challenge. The Dobunni, operating across what is now Gloucestershire and surrounding areas, never developed a centralised mint infrastructure, which created the tolerance for weight and composition variation that made imitation viable in the first place.