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Potin Unit Rounded Bull / Holman D4
| Issuer | Cantii tribe (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 95 BC - 80 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 1.4 g |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Stylised outline bull advancing right, rendered in the Celtic linear tradition with a characteristically curved body, though some specimens exhibit a comparatively straighter form. A single detached crescent device appears above the animal's back. The legs are typically splayed apart at the upper join, and the tail varies between a reversed S-shaped curve and an arc terminating in a short straight line. A horizontal exergual line is present below the bull, providing a ground line to the composition. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Cantii occupied what is now Kent, and their potin coinage — cast rather than struck, in a tin-bronze alloy — represents one of the earliest indigenous coinages of Britain, predating the Roman invasion by a century. The technology almost certainly arrived via Gaulish contact, with prototypes ultimately traceable to Massaliote bronze issues. By the time this type was being produced, the form had been so thoroughly abstracted through generations of copying that the original figurative source is barely recoverable.
Van Arsdell 119-03 sits among the later, more degenerate iterations of the series. The casting process frequently left surface irregularities that modern collectors mistake for damage.