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Silver Unit - Eastern North Thames St Albans Zoo
| Issuer | Trinovantes tribe (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 55 BC - 45 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 1.1 g |
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| Obverse description | Highly abstracted and disintegrated head derived from the classical wreathed head prototype, rendered in the characteristic Celtic La Tène style. The facial features are decomposed into a complex arrangement of curvilinear and geometric motifs, with swirling lines, pellets, and C-shaped curves filling the field. A prominent annulet or ringlet element is visible near the centre of the design, typical of the Eastern North Thames stylistic tradition. The overall composition is dynamic and non-naturalistic, reflecting the Celtic artisans' transformation of Mediterranean coin imagery into indigenous decorative vocabulary. |
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| Reverse description | A stylised horse advancing to the right, rendered in the abstracted Celtic manner characteristic of the Eastern North Thames series. The horse's body is composed of bold, rounded forms with a prominent concentric-ring solar or wheel motif above the animal's back, a hallmark of the so-called 'Zoo' coinage. Subsidiary animals or fantastical creatures, including what appears to be a boar or serpentine beast beneath the horse, populate the field in accordance with the zoomorphic decorative programme of this issue. The exergual area is filled with additional abstract ornamental devices including pellets and curved lines. The overall design reflects the highly imaginative and distinctly British Celtic artistic tradition of the late pre-Roman Iron Age. |
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| Additional information |
The Trinovantes, based around modern Essex and the Thames estuary, were among the most politically consequential tribes in pre-Roman Britain — it was their appeal to Julius Caesar against Catuvellaunian aggression that drew him into his second British expedition in 54 BC. This coin type falls squarely within that turbulent decade. The "Zoo" designation in the ABC classification refers to the distinctive arrangement of animal motifs that specialists use to differentiate die groupings within the broader Eastern North Thames series, not any ancient terminology.