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Gold Plated Stater Middle Whaddon Curved Wreath Contemporary Counterfeit
| Issuer | Catuvellauni tribe (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 45 BC - 40 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Highly stylised and abstracted head of Apollo facing right, rendered in the Celtic La Tène artistic tradition. The design features two crossed wreaths — one curved — forming an X-shape across the field, with back-to-back outline crescents at the centre where the wreaths intersect. Wing-like decorative elements occupy the angles formed by the wreaths, while the characteristic spike of the standard Whaddon Chase type is absent. The composition reflects the progressive abstraction typical of Middle Whaddon Chase stater coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A stylised horse advances to the right, its tail rendered as a single flowing line, consistent with the simplified iconography of the Middle Whaddon Chase series. A pair of back-to-back solid crescents appears above the horse in the upper field. Below the horse, a pellet-in-ring motif serves as a solar symbol. A coffee-bean shaped pellet is positioned behind the horse in the field. The overall reverse composition adheres closely to the established typology of the Catuvellauni stater series, here executed on a base-metal planchet with gold plating, identifying the piece as a contemporary counterfeit. |
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| Additional information |
Contemporary counterfeits of Catuvellaunian staters were not crude opportunism — they were a calculated response to a monetary system with no central enforcement mechanism. Iron Age British tribes had no mint police, no assay office, and no mechanism for withdrawing debased coinage from circulation. A plated piece that passed at face value in a single transaction had done its job. The Middle Whaddon Chase type was among the most widely circulated issues in the southeast, which made it the logical target for platers working in the decades before the Claudian invasion restructured exchange entirely.