John Conduitt Posted November 25, 2023 · Supporter Share Posted November 25, 2023 The Celts were unusual in the history of British coinage in that they regularly produced coins in gold, silver and bronze (or potin). The Romans only produced a couple of dozen gold issues at Londinium and all of those were under usurpers, who were also the only Emperors to strike there in silver (although most of those coins contained almost no silver). The Saxons issued few gold coins and no bronze at all, except the Northumbrians who issued no gold. Little gold was made until Edward III and no more copper or tin was issued until James I, well into in the modern era, unless you count the metals used to debase Henry VIII’s silver. Now the only gold you see is sold as souvenirs. Yet the Celtic tribes were prolific. It’s sometimes suggested they only used coins for votive purposes but the range of coinage they had at their disposal points to something more sophisticated. The Celts north of the Thames, for example, struck 97 gold, 87 silver and 72 bronze designs (I won’t call them issues as without known control marks, it isn’t clear which are separate issues). They did this in 100 years. There were half a dozen other coin-producing tribes on top of this. The Iceni of East Anglia didn’t strike in bronze, but still managed 37 gold and 70 silver designs. This coin is one of the most popular gold designs (and one of my only full gold staters). It features the familiar devolved head of Apollo on the obverse (well, familiar if you collect Celtic coins) and a less familiar wolf on the reverse. The vast majority of Celtic coins feature a horse, especially if they aren’t bronze, so it’s particularly pleasing to have this long-legged, long-toothed canine on a gold coin. Iceni ‘Norfolk Wolf Left, Sideways Diamond’ Stater, 50-35BC Norfolk. Gold, 17mm, 5.40g. Left-facing Icenian wreath motif, fibula below. Wolf standing left with bristly back, crescent and large pellet above, large pellet and four-pellet diamond below (only two pellets visible) (ABC−, VA−, BMC−, COI−, S−. Talbot Norfolk Wolf B, Sub-type D, die group 18, dies T/49). Found Norfolk, CCI 99.1318. The Celts left us nothing in writing. If they did (they were literate after all), the Romans destroyed it. But in Norse legend, the wolves Skoll and Hati chase the sun and moon through the sky. Norfolk Wolf staters often include objects that might represent the sun or moon, and so it’s thought the myth was the same for the Celts. This left-facing wolf is chasing the sun, while right-facing wolves chase the moon. Either way they are lean and hungry, eager to eat whichever celestial object is in front of them. It's thought Norfolk Wolves were issued on Julius Caesar’s second invasion of Britain in 54BC to pay him tribute, along with other common staters like the Catuvellauni’s Whaddon Chase. As such, they were often poor quality. But this coin has a brighter, lighter, yellow colour compared to most Celtic gold, which is dark red, like this later coin from the Iceni. Iceni ‘Irstead Smiler’ Gold Quarter Stater, 30-10BC Iceni tribe, Norfolk. Gold, 9mm, 1.06g. Branch projecting from latticed box divided into three, (ringed-pellet to right). Horse right with open head, beaded mane, large crescent and two rings above forming hidden smiling face, ringed-pellet behind and below (S 430). This coin features the usual horse - possibly a conduit to the gods, or a symbol of wealth and the warrior elite, but also surrounded by stars, suns and crescents. 18 1 1 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rand Posted November 25, 2023 · Supporter Share Posted November 25, 2023 Amazing coins! Issuing coins in three metals supports their use for circulation. Even if some of the common types were produced for payments to the Romans, they still may have been used locally by Romans. If Romans only needed them as buty bullion for melting, they could find an easier way to receive the payments. Celtic staters were hardly high-quality gold. The recent find of Corieltavi staters in Anglesey tends to be interpreted as a refugee hoard, but Corieltavi did not seem to fight Romans. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66471319 Arguably, if there were cross-tribe circulation, mixed finds would be expected. Interstingly, a Corieltavi stater was found as far as in Scotland Iron Age coins in ScotlandSociety of Antiquaries of Scotlandhttp://journals.socantscot.org › article › download The Celtic gold coins are unique in that they were likely minted from new gold, as opposed to gold from melted old coins or imported gold. This opens an opportunity for interesting numismatic research. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hrefn Posted November 25, 2023 · Supporter Share Posted November 25, 2023 Here is my avatar coin, with the wolf facing in the opposite direction. The sharp teeth, the bristly back of wild hair standing on end. How can you not love it? 7 2 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Conduitt Posted November 26, 2023 · Supporter Author Share Posted November 26, 2023 On 11/25/2023 at 9:53 AM, Rand said: Amazing coins! Issuing coins in three metals supports their use for circulation. Even if some of the common types were produced for payments to the Romans, they still may have been used locally by Romans. If Romans only needed them as buty bullion for melting, they could find an easier way to receive the payments. Celtic staters were hardly high-quality gold. The recent find of Corieltavi staters in Anglesey tends to be interpreted as a refugee hoard, but Corieltavi did not seem to fight Romans. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66471319 Arguably, if there were cross-tribe circulation, mixed finds would be expected. Interstingly, a Corieltavi stater was found as far as in Scotland Iron Age coins in ScotlandSociety of Antiquaries of Scotlandhttp://journals.socantscot.org › article › download The Celtic gold coins are unique in that they were likely minted from new gold, as opposed to gold from melted old coins or imported gold. This opens an opportunity for interesting numismatic research. Yes I'm convinced the Catuvellauni, Cantii and Atrebates used coins for circulation. Not necessarily between each other, as even when their rulers took over parts of the other area, they struck coins for that area. But you find a fair amount of coins of all metals from Continental tribes in that area too. The Durotriges seem to be the opposite, only using coins to pay the Romans or for votive purposes - their coins aren't found spread around their territory. You can also see that in the coin style. The Catuvellauni and Atrebates inscribed their names on the coins, and used different images they'd adapted from Roman coins. The Durotriges stuck with the same design on the same coin they knew the Romans accepted. The coins found in Anglesey and Scotland are interesting. The tribes there didn't use coins. Anglesey would've been somewhere you took your coins for votive purposes, so that hoard might've been for a specific religious event. I'm not sure what the Corieltauvi used coins for - they didn't use bronze but they did strike a lot of silver, so perhaps it was used for payment for less everday things (as with the penny in the medieval period). 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Conduitt Posted November 26, 2023 · Supporter Author Share Posted November 26, 2023 20 hours ago, Hrefn said: Here is my avatar coin, with the wolf facing in the opposite direction. The sharp teeth, the bristly back of wild hair standing on end. How can you not love it? Nice to see Hati to go with Skoll 😁 Yes you don't get many better creatures on a coin than an Iceni wolf. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alegandron Posted May 11 · Supporter Share Posted May 11 (edited) @John Conduitt, I REALLY like your coin! Celtic Art and their coinage is incredibly fascinating to me! But, I have a rhetorical question... for the life of me, I am trying to figure out how Boudicca's portrait on my coin is the same as the pictures everyone puts out of her... 😄 Celtic Britain Iceni Boudicca 61 CE 1.03g Celt Hd r Celtic horse galloping Scarce 🙂 Edited May 11 by Alegandron 4 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonshaw Posted May 11 · Supporter Share Posted May 11 (edited) On 11/24/2023 at 5:02 PM, John Conduitt said: The Celts left us nothing in writing. If they did (they were literate after all), the Romans destroyed it. But in Norse legend, the wolves Skoll and Hati chase the sun and moon through the sky. Norfolk Wolf staters often include objects that might represent the sun or moon, and so it’s thought the myth was the same for the Celts. This left-facing wolf is chasing the sun, while right-facing wolves chase the moon. Either way they are lean and hungry, eager to eat whichever celestial object is in front of them. Celtic Britons did write, they just borrowed the alphabet, still preserved on their coinage at least after about 50 BC (This was presumably under Roman domination, however.) This from wildwinds, for example Celtic Britain, Catuvellauni, Tasciovanus, 25 BC-10 AD. AV 1/4 Stater, Typ "Tasci". 1.27 g. TACI around a cross, two crescents at sides, dot in circle to right and below. / TASC, horse cantering right, bucranium in upper left field. Van Arsdell 1692-1; BMC 1641; Wendling 5961; Evans V, 13; Mack 153; VA 1692-1; La Tour XLIII; ABC 2595. They borrowed both Latin and Greek characters. Edited May 11 by Bonshaw 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Conduitt Posted May 11 · Supporter Author Share Posted May 11 29 minutes ago, Alegandron said: @John Conduitt, I REALLY like your coin! Celtic Art and their coinage is incredibly fascinating to me! But, I have a rhetorical question... for the life of me, I am trying to figure out how Boudicca's portrait on my coin is the same as the pictures everyone puts out of her... 😄 Celtic Britain Iceni Boudicca 61 CE 1.03g Celt Hd r Celtic horse galloping Scarce 🙂 Nice coin - they don't usually come well-centred and in good condition. Yes although these might have been struck under Boudica, it is unlikely it's meant to be her. Chris Rudd calls this type the 'Norfolk God' and even lists one with a moustache... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alegandron Posted May 11 · Supporter Share Posted May 11 (edited) +-LOL, thank you. Yeah, I knew that the coin depicted a local Celtic God. Just have been seeing all these "attractive" Hollywood actresses portraying her, and laughed when I saw this last one. Your Iceni Gold is wonderful. Really enjoyed that posting! I have enjoyed reading over the last several years: "The Druids" by Peter Berresford Ellis "The Celts" by Jean Markale "The Celtic Empire - The First Millenium of Celtic History 1000BC-51AD" by Peter Berresford Ellis Edited May 11 by Alegandron 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Conduitt Posted May 11 · Supporter Author Share Posted May 11 29 minutes ago, Bonshaw said: Celtic Britons did write, they just borrowed the alphabet, still preserved on their coinage at least after about 50 BC (This was presumably under Roman domination, however.) This from wildwinds, for example Celtic Britain, Catuvellauni, Tasciovanus, 25 BC-10 AD. AV 1/4 Stater, Typ "Tasci". 1.27 g. TACI around a cross, two crescents at sides, dot in circle to right and below. / TASC, horse cantering right, bucranium in upper left field. Van Arsdell 1692-1; BMC 1641; Wendling 5961; Evans V, 13; Mack 153; VA 1692-1; La Tour XLIII; ABC 2595. They borrowed both Latin and Greek characters. Yes we can guess they were literate because they had legends on their coins after about 50BC that weren't simply copies of the letters on Greek coins. That was just after Caesar invaded but still nearly 100 years before the Romans conquered Britain. It was around that time tribes from the Continent (like the Belgae) migrated to Britain to get away from Caesar who'd won the Gallic Wars. The Gallic Celts were writing from about the third century BC, influenced by the Greeks at Massalia (whose coins inspired British coin production around 150BC). So maybe those Celts brought writing to Britain, or the Britons were writing already - Caesar refers to the Druids writing things down. Either way, there's nothing left but the coins. There is no trace of a Celtic Bede. So we don't know much about them other than what other people (the Romans) said and certainly don't have their perspective. Dumnoc Tigirseno, Corieltauvi Unit, 25-35 Silver, 17mm, 1.24g. (D)VMNO(C) between two lines over vertical wreath motif of granular, inward-facing leaves. Horse right, TIGIR above, S under tail, [EN] below, [O] and pellet triad in front (ABC 1974; VA 974; BMC 3328-29; S 415). Found North Ferriby, Lincolnshire, 2016. CCI 21.0569. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Conduitt Posted May 11 · Supporter Author Share Posted May 11 (edited) 25 minutes ago, Alegandron said: +-LOL, thank you. Yeah, I knew that the coin depicted a local Celtic God. Just have been seeing all these "attractive" Hollywood actresses portraying her, and laughed when I saw this last one. Your Iceni Gold is wonderful. Really enjoyed that posting! I have enjoyed reading over the last several years: "The Druids" by Peter Berresford Ellis "The Celts" by Jean Markale "The Celtic Empire - The First Millenium of Celtic History 1000BC-51AD" by Peter Berresford Ellis Hollywood always has someone attractive playing these people, presumably because no-one can really argue. Although Cicero said the Ancient British "cannot be taught to read and are the ugliest and most stupid race I ever saw." He seems wrong about the writing, so might just be bitter because Caesar didn't win. It's interesting that the 'media' (yes, I'm counting Cicero as the media) has shifted from calling everyone ugly to making them invariably beautiful. Edited May 11 by John Conduitt 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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