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Corded Serpent. c.55-45 BC. Eastern. Celtic gold quarter stater. 12mm. 1.30g.
1/2
Auctioneer has chosen not to publish the price of this lot
Norwich, Norfolk
Description
Corded Serpent. c.55-45 BC. Gold quarter stater. 12mm. 1.30g. Wreath design with hidden face./ Triple-tailed horse right with tiny beaded mane, ring-pole protruding from chest, corded serpent body above, horizontal S-shape and crescent below. ABC 2225, VA−, BMC−, DK 475, S−. Unobtrusive hairline crack, otherwise Good VF, beautifully toned, golden gold, heavyweight, bold strike. Unquestionably the best we’ve set eyes on, a truly exceptional example. Found Little Shelford, Cambs., September 2019. VERY RARE only 18 others recorded.
Horned serpents (or dragons) were popular in Britain, especially north of the Thames, as can be seen from these three coins of Cunobelinus (silver units ABC 2831 and 2834 drawn by Dr Philip de Jersey, Cunobelin’s Silver, Britannia 32, 2001, p.1-44; bronze unit ABC 2915 drawn by Paul Sellier for Sir John Evans, The coins of the ancient Britons. Supplement, 1890, pl. XXII, 14). This is a British copy of a Gallo-Belgic type (DT 330-331) made in the pre-Augustan period by a small tribe (name unknown) to the west of the Bellovaci and southwest of the Ambiani. Delestrée and Tache call the type ‘petit serpent cornu’ because there is a little horned serpent above the horse, as indeed there is on our coin, although you can only see its body. This is an excessively rare type and, as Dr John Sills so rightly says, “possibly the best known” (pers.comm. 2.6.2020).
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Corded Serpent. c.55-45 BC. Gold quarter stater. 12mm. 1.30g. Wreath design with hidden face./ Triple-tailed horse right with tiny beaded mane, ring-pole protruding from chest, corded serpent body above, horizontal S-shape and crescent below. ABC 2225, VA−, BMC−, DK 475, S−. Unobtrusive hairline crack, otherwise Good VF, beautifully toned, golden gold, heavyweight, bold strike. Unquestionably the best we’ve set eyes on, a truly exceptional example. Found Little Shelford, Cambs., September 2019. VERY RARE only 18 others recorded.
Horned serpents (or dragons) were popular in Britain, especially north of the Thames, as can be seen from these three coins of Cunobelinus (silver units ABC 2831 and 2834 drawn by Dr Philip de Jersey, Cunobelin’s Silver, Britannia 32, 2001, p.1-44; bronze unit ABC 2915 drawn by Paul Sellier for Sir John Evans, The coins of the ancient Britons. Supplement, 1890, pl. XXII, 14). This is a British copy of a Gallo-Belgic type (DT 330-331) made in the pre-Augustan period by a small tribe (name unknown) to the west of the Bellovaci and southwest of the Ambiani. Delestrée and Tache call the type ‘petit serpent cornu’ because there is a little horned serpent above the horse, as indeed there is on our coin, although you can only see its body. This is an excessively rare type and, as Dr John Sills so rightly says, “possibly the best known” (pers.comm. 2.6.2020).
Chris Rudd Auction 173
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Norfolk
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