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Silver Plated Unit Bury Diadem / Bury Type A Contemporary Counterfeit
| Issuer | Iceni tribe (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 50 BC - 15 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Stylised female head facing left in the abstract Celtic artistic tradition, characterised by a sharply pointed nose and a distinctively heart-shaped ear. A diadem is rendered above the forehead, while corded or pelleted curls represent the hair in an ornamental pattern. A serpent in a reversed S-configuration occupies the field in front of the face, a motif common to Icenic coinage of this series. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Prancing horse depicted in left profile in the stylised Celtic manner, with characteristic doubling of the upper forelegs and the right rear leg, a known artistic convention of Icenic die-cutters. The mane is rendered as a series of small S-shaped pellets. Below the horse, a pellet-in-ring device occupies the lower field, while a pellet boss enclosed within a ring of pellets appears in the upper field. |
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| Additional information |
The Bury diadem type takes its name from the Bury St. Edmunds hoard, one of the largest Iceni coin deposits ever recorded, which skewed early scholarship toward treating this type as more uniform than it actually is. Contemporary counterfeits of this specific type — silver-plated bronze cores — were not necessarily produced to deceive in any modern criminal sense; in Iron Age Britain, the plating technology itself implied value, and the line between official and unofficial production was almost certainly less rigid than later numismatic classification suggests. Some scholars believe these pieces circulated alongside struck silver with little practical distinction made by users.