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Silver 1/2 Unit - Belgae Danebury Spiral
| Issuer | Atrebates and Regini tribes (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 55 BC - 45 BC |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Reverse description | Abstract Celtic design featuring a large prominent S-shaped or sinuous scroll element dominating the central field, accompanied by smaller curved lines, crescents, and pellet ornaments dispersed across the flan. The composition is typical of the disintegrated chariot or horse motif common to southern British Celtic coinage of this period, reduced to purely abstract curvilinear elements. A small annulet with central pellet is visible near the lower centre of the design. The surface retains original die detail despite the irregular hammered flan, with no inscription or legend present. |
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| Mintage | ND (55 BC - 45 BC) |
| Additional information |
The Danebury Spiral type takes its name from the Iron Age hillfort in Hampshire where examples have been recovered, a site occupied for centuries before Roman contact but largely abandoned by the time Caesar's expeditions of 55 and 54 BC brought the southern British tribes into the written record. The Atrebates under Commios — himself a Gaulish chieftain installed by Caesar as a client ruler — were producing coinage in this period under conditions of acute political instability, as loyalties shifted rapidly between pro- and anti-Roman factions.
At half a gram, these were small-denomination transaction pieces, not prestige objects. Their find distribution clusters heavily across Hampshire and West Sussex.