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Gold Plated Stater - Cunobelin Cunobelinus Classic No Stalk Type Contemporary Counterfeit
| Issuer | Catuvellauni and Trinovantes tribes (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 20-43 |
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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 |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | A stylised horse rearing vigorously to the right in high relief, rendered in the bold Celtic plastic tradition with exaggerated muscular haunches and a flowing mane; the forehooves are raised and the hind legs are extended. A decorative branch or plant motif, composed of pellets and curved elements, appears in the upper right field above the horse. A horizontal ground line divides the field, below which the abbreviated royal legend CVNO is inscribed in bold Latin capitals, referencing the issuing ruler Cunobelin. The whole design is enclosed within a beaded border. |
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| Additional information |
Cunobelin's staters circulated across a politically dominant territory stretching from Camulodunum — modern Colchester, his capital — through much of southeastern Britain in the decades before Claudius's invasion of 43 AD. Contemporary counterfeits of this type were not the work of criminals in any modern sense; the bronze core plated in gold likely passed without suspicion in everyday exchange, and the line between official and unofficial striking was far less defined in Late Iron Age Britain than Roman monetary thinking would have preferred. Some scholars suspect certain "counterfeits" were locally sanctioned to meet demand.
The ABC 2795 and Van Arsdell 2025-03 references for the genuine type place this within the No Stalk series, one of Cunobelin's later issues. The plated fabric here suggests manufacture well outside Camulodunum.