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Silver Unit Whaddon Bird
| Issuer | Catuvellauni tribe (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 45 BC - 40 BC |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Stater |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A stylised horse prances to the right, executed in the distinctive fragmented Celtic artistic style with an elliptical ear rendered as a simple curved arc. Above the horse and to the left, a small bird is depicted in flight, a motif that gives this type its colloquial designation as the 'Whaddon Bird' type. Beneath the horse, a pelletal sun symbol — a pellet-in-ring device — occupies the lower field. The composition is characteristic of the late Catuvellauni coinage tradition, with individual elements arranged in a loose, dynamic field. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Whaddon Chase type takes its name from a hoard discovered in Buckinghamshire in 1849, which contained several hundred uninscribed silver units and effectively defined this stylistic group for later scholarship. These coins predate the adoption of rulers' names on Catuvellaunian issues — a shift that began around 45–40 BC as tribal authority consolidated under identifiable leaders, making uninscribed pieces like this one among the last anonymous products of the tribe before epigraphy entered their coinage.