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Gold Plated Stater Norfolk Wolf Right Type Contemporary Counterfeit
| Issuer | Iceni tribe (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 55 BC - 15 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Stater |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Highly stylised and abstracted derivation of the Macedonian gold stater obverse, depicting a laureate head of Apollo facing right, reduced to a series of curved lines, crescents, and pellets. The wreath is rendered with upward-projecting laurel leaves, while the cloak and associated crescent motifs occupy the field in the characteristic Icenian abstract manner. The surface bears a thin gold wash over a bronze core, consistent with its identification as a contemporary counterfeit plated issue. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
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| Mintage | ND (55 BC - 15 BC) |
| Additional information |
Contemporary counterfeits of Iceni staters were not the work of opportunistic criminals in any modern sense — they circulated within the same tribal economy as genuine issues, accepted by communities who may have understood perfectly well what they were handling. The bronze core plated in gold served functional monetary purposes at a time when no central authority existed to police metal content.
Van Arsdell 610-06 places genuine examples of this type among the later Iceni struck coinage, preceding the Boudiccan revolt of 60-61 AD by several decades. Surviving plated pieces are rarely catalogued with confidence; the cf. designations across ABC, Spink, and BMC reflect ongoing uncertainty about how to classify issues that were never quite legitimate but never quite fraudulent either.