Gold Stater - Belgae Ladder Mane

The Atrebates — whose territory covered much of modern Hampshire, Berkshire, and West Sussex — produced this type during the generation immediately preceding Caesar's expeditions to Britain in 55 and 54 BC. The "Ladder Mane" designation comes from a distinctive abstract treatment that evolved through progressive stylistic degradation from the original Macedonian gold stater of Philip II, passed westward through Gaul over roughly two centuries of copying and re-copying by Celtic die cutters working entirely from earlier coin models rather than life.

Van Arsdell 346 is relatively well-documented for a British Celtic issue, with findspot distributions clustering heavily in Hampshire — consistent with the Atrebatic heartland.