Sussex Helmet type Ancient British Silver Unit

Last week we featured an Ancient British silver unit, which had been found by Mike Ruczynski. The coin was an example of the Sussex Helmet type of the Regni and was listed as number 674 in Ancient British Coins as being excessively rare. I said that presently there are at least eight known specimens of the Sussex Helmet silver unit so the type is not as rare as it used to be.

Mike has contacted me again to say that his brother, John, found another specimen back in 2014 and it was recorded on the PAS website. John’s coin is illustrated here and it is another example of ABC 674. It seems remarkable that two brothers have each found an example of an Ancient British silver unit described as being excessively rare.

John’s coin is the same type but the obverse and reverse dies are both different. On the reverse the wheel above the rump of the horse hardly shows us. Below the body is a small ring and below that that two beaded rings with a pellet inside the smaller one.

The overall condition of John’s find is not as good as Mike’s. The obverse would grade about VF but there are chips to the edge. The reverse is weak in places but most of the hose shows up.

Valuation

At least nine specimens of the type are now known but the coin illustrated here is struck from what appear to be a different die pairing from most of the others. Therefore, it should be of interest to a specialist collector. However, the state of preservation leaves something to be desired so a pre-sale auction estimate would be unlikely to be any higher than £300 to £400.

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