Ancient British silver unit
This Ancient British silver unit is only 11-12mm in diameter but is shown greatly enlarged. The finder, Mike Ruczynski, sent it in to be identified and valued.
On the obverse is a helmeted head facing left. On the reverse a left-facing horse has a wheel above, a ring within a ring below and ring-and-dots positioned in various places in the field.
Silver units of this type are not included in the Standard Catalogue. However, they are listed in Ancient British Coins under the Regni of West Sussex as the Sussex Helmet type and dated to 55-45 BC. The type is said to be excessively rare. The obverse of Mike’s find would grade good VF, the reverse VF.
Valuation
Being of such rarity it is surprising that this is the second silver unit of its type to appear on this website. The first specimen was featured in January of last year with an estimated price of £1,500.
Presently there are at least eight known specimens of the Sussex Helmet type. Therefore, they are extremely rare but maybe not rare enough to sell for £1,500. Allowing for the fact that over half a dozen other examples are known, if I was cataloguing Mike’s coin for sale at auction then in its present condition I would set the pre-sale estimate at £1,000 – £1,200.
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This is incredible! I bet his heart skipped a beat when he found it. Amazing!