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Silver Plated Unit - Antedios Antedios Antd D-Bar Contemporary Counterfeit
| Issuer | Iceni tribe (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 20-35 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | The obverse bears a distinctive Celtic abstract design composed of a central double-crescent or D-bar motif, with two opposed crescents flanking a central pellet, all contained within a beaded or plain border. Decorative pellets are arranged in the field above, below, and to the sides of the central device, with additional small linear or leaf-like ornaments in the lower segment. The composition is characteristic of the Icenian silver unit series, rendered in a schematic, non-figural Celtic artistic style. The flan is irregular and slightly convex, consistent with contemporary counterfeit production using a base bronze core. Surface patination reveals the bronze substrate beneath the degraded silver plating. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is heavily worn and largely featureless, showing a plain or near-plain field with only faint, indistinct traces of design surviving. The surface is covered in green-bronze patination with scattered pitting, consistent with long-term burial and the degradation typical of silver-plated base-metal contemporary forgeries. A few scattered pellets or remnants of the original die design may be discerned under close examination, but no coherent iconographic programme is legible. The inscription ANTĐ (for Antedios), recorded for the series, is not visible on this example due to heavy wear. The irregular flan edge and surface condition confirm the coin's nature as a contemporary counterfeit of a Icenian unit struck in the name of king Antedios. |
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| Additional information |
Antedios ruled the Iceni in the early first century AD, likely as a client king under Roman oversight following the death of Cunobelinus. The D-bar series to which this piece relates was a reduced-weight silver coinage, and contemporary counterfeits — silver-plated bronze cores — circulated alongside genuine issues so routinely that the Iceni population almost certainly accepted them without distinction. The deception was endemic rather than exceptional.
The BMC Iron Age reference 3872 anchors this to a documented type, though the cf. qualifiers across Van Arsdell and Mack reflect genuine scholarly caution about exact die matching for plated pieces.