Quarter stater of the Catuvellauni

Roger Paul has had such a good run of luck that he is now starting to be concerned what detecting will be like when it ends. Those of us who are like me get only the occasional spell of good finds and they tend to be months or years apart. Therefore, we should enjoy any above average period, for one thing is certain: it won’t last!

Roger’s latest good find is an Ancient British gold quarter stater. It’s a coin of the Catuvellauni, which is listed in Ancient British Coins as the Tasciovanos Acorn type (number 2586).

On the obverse is a wreath made up of one curved and one straight line, with opposed crescents in the centre and ‘teardrops’ in the angles. There is a horse facing left on the reverse with an acorn below. Some references for this type state that TASCIAVA appears directly over the horse. However, I checked out half a dozen specimens and only a couple had vestiges of the lower part of the central letters in TASCIAVA.

Valuation

This quarter stater seems to have circulated for longer than most Ancient British coins as I’d grade the obverse as food Fine and the revers as Fine. Nearly all of the other specimens I traced were in near to EF condition. Despite having some circulation wear, this is still an attractive and very rare coin and if I was cataloguing it for sale at auction I would set the pre-sale estimate at £220 to £250.

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