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Gold Plated Stater - Verica Verica Warrior Star Contemporary Counterfeit
| Issuer | Atrebates and Regini tribes (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 10-20 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 3.45 g |
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| Obverse description | Deeply convex, irregular flan with heavily degraded gold plating over a bronze core, revealing extensive verdigris patination across the field. The obverse bears the remains of a stylised design characteristic of late Atrebatic Celtic coinage, likely derived from a classicising prototype, rendered in the abstract curvilinear tradition of British Iron Age die-cutting. The surface is severely worn and corroded, with surviving areas of gold wash distributed unevenly, consistent with a contemporary counterfeit struck to imitate the authorised staters of Verica. The legend COM.F, denoting 'Son of Commios', would originally have appeared in the field, though it is largely illegible on this example due to surface deterioration. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse displays a stylised warrior or horseman motif set within a field populated by pellets, scrolls, and other abstract Celtic decorative elements, typical of the Verica Warrior type as referenced in the Atrebatic series. A horse or rider figure is discernible in the upper portion of the flan, rendered in the degenerate but energetic Celtic artistic idiom. The abbreviated legend VIR, referencing Verica, appears in the lower field below the central device, partially legible despite heavy corrosion and patination. The gold plating survives more extensively on this face, lending a warm metallic lustre to portions of the relief. The overall execution and fabric of the flan are consistent with a contemporary ancient counterfeit, inferior in weight and composition to the official coinage it imitates. |
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| Additional information |
Contemporary counterfeits of Verica's coinage are not a modern problem — they were made and circulated in period, almost certainly by local craftsmen who understood the gold content was declining anyway. By Verica's reign, staters issued through legitimate tribal authority had already been significantly debased from their earlier Gaulish prototypes, making the gap between official and counterfeit issues narrower in practice than in principle. A plated bronze core passed well enough in everyday exchange.
Verica was the last Atrebatic king, eventually driven from Britain by Catuvellauni expansion — his appeal to Rome for military assistance is one of the stated pretexts for Claudius's invasion of 43 AD.