Gold Plated Stater - Epaticcus Corn Ear Warrior Contemporary Counterfeit

Epaticcus ruled the Atrebates in the decades immediately before the Claudian invasion of 43 AD, expanding aggressively into Catuvellaunian territory — a political instability that likely drove demand for plated forgeries as genuine gold coinage became harder to trust or obtain. Contemporary counterfeits of this type were produced by coating a bronze flan with gold leaf or wash, a deception sophisticated enough to circulate alongside genuine issues.

The "cf." references across every major catalogue reflect the classificatory difficulty: no two plated pieces are struck from identical die pairs to confirmed genuine specimens, complicating attribution.