Catalog
Gold Plated Stater - Corio Corio Tree Contemporary Counterfeit
| Issuer | Dobunni tribe (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 30 BC - 15 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Stater (1) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Stylised Celtic horse motif depicted in a highly abstracted Late Iron Age manner, facing left, with the body reduced to curvilinear and geometric elements. The head is rendered as a crescentic form adorned with pellets, the legs as radiating curved lines, and a prominent ringed pellet or annulet device appears below the horse in the lower field. Additional pellets and curvilinear subsidiary motifs fill the surrounding field. The Latin legend CORIO appears in the upper field, referencing the Dobunnic ruler Corio. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Dobunni occupied a territory centered on what is now Gloucestershire, and their coinage — including the Corio series — was produced during a period of intensifying Roman commercial pressure before the Claudian conquest. This piece is a contemporary counterfeit: a bronze core with gold plating, almost certainly produced locally to pass in circulation rather than as a later forgery. Such plated pieces (often called "subaeratus" by analogy with Roman practice) are not rare in Iron Age British coinage and were sometimes tolerated, sometimes not — the tribal authority's capacity to police its own currency was limited.
The BMC Iron Age references 3064 and 3103 document genuine examples against which this can be compared. At 3.72g, the weight deficit from a solid gold stater is detectable by hand.