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Gold Plated Stater Carn Brea Contemporary Counterfeit
| Issuer | Atrebates and Regini tribes (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 55 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A severely disjointed horse rendered in a primitive, abstract Celtic style, depicted standing to the left on thin, stick-like legs, with the body segments depicted in a disarticulated fashion characteristic of late Iron Age British coinage. Numerous pellets are scattered above the horse in the field, and a single pellet appears beneath the animal, serving as a ground indicator. The overall composition reflects the extreme stylistic devolution common to Atrebatic coinage of this period. |
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| Mintage | ND (-55) |
| Additional information |
Carn Brea, the Iron Age hillfort in Cornwall, has produced a concentration of these lightweight imitations sufficient to suggest organised local production rather than opportunistic individual forgery. Contemporary counterfeits of Gallo-Belgic and British staters circulated freely — the Celtic monetary system had no centralised authentication mechanism, and weight tolerance was loose enough that plated copies passed without systematic rejection.
The Atrebates occupied territory spanning both sides of the Channel, and coin use among them intensified sharply around the time of Caesar's British expeditions of 55 and 54 BC, when tribal political relationships and tribute obligations made portable wealth suddenly urgent.