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Gold Stater Westerham Prototype
| Issuer | Atrebates and Regini tribes (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 55 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Stater (1) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Highly devolved and abstracted rendition of the head of Apollo facing right, reduced to a schematic wreath in which the inner tip of each leaf points downward, accompanied by crescents and a stylized cloak motif. A characteristic spike-with-curve element, commonly identified as a hairbar, traverses the wreath diagonally. The facial features are rendered in a bulbous, almost vestigial manner, with a small protrusion indicating the chin and curling hair locks descending at the rear. The composition is characteristic of early British Iron Age coinage derived from the Macedonian stater prototype, exhibiting the progressive geometric abstraction typical of the Westerham type series. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A disjointed, schematically rendered horse standing left, depicted with elongated stick-like legs characteristic of the highly abstracted Celtic artistic tradition. Numerous pellets are scattered above the horse in the field, and a single pellet appears beneath the horse's body. The design reflects the advanced stage of devolution from the Philip II Macedonian stater reverse prototype, in which the charioteer and chariot have been reduced to isolated geometric and pellet elements distributed across the flan. |
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| Additional information |
The Westerham type sits at the beginning of the Atrebatic coinage sequence — it is among the earliest gold staters struck in Britain rather than imported from Gaul. Caesar's two expeditions of 55 and 54 BC disrupted the cross-Channel trade networks that had supplied Gaulish blanks to British tribes, accelerating the development of indigenous minting. The prototype designation places this piece at the transitional moment before the type fully standardized, meaning individual specimens can show significant variation in flan preparation and die alignment.