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Silver Unit Canterbury Dragon
| Issuer | Cantii tribe (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 50 BC - 25 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Highly stylised Celtic decorative field featuring an abstract dragon or serpentine creature rendered in the characteristic La Tène artistic tradition. The design is composed of dynamic curvilinear forms including concentric circle motifs with central pellets, sinuous ridged body segments suggesting a writhing beast, and radiating fan-shaped elements in the lower left field. Scrolling and comma-shaped ornaments fill the surrounding field, interspersed with scattered pellets. The entire composition is executed in bold relief with no legend or inscription, reflecting the purely decorative abstract style typical of Cantian coinage of this period. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Cantii occupied the southeastern corner of Britain — roughly modern Kent — and were among the tribes Caesar encountered during his expeditions of 55 and 54 BC. These silver units were struck in the decades immediately following that contact, a period when Kentish tribes were navigating the political fallout of Roman intervention without yet falling under direct Roman administration. The coinage reflects a society reorganizing its exchange systems under external pressure rather than internal collapse.
The "Dragon" designation within the Canterbury series distinguishes specific die groupings catalogued by Van Arsdell; ABC 243 places this type within a broader sequence of fractional silver issues whose exact tribal attribution to the Cantii remains the scholarly consensus but not without occasional challenge.