| Spink > Auction 24004 | Auction date: 4 April 2024 |
| Lot number: 3 Price realized: 8,000 GBP (Approx. 10,054 USD / 9,339 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Iron Age Britain, Belgae, Esunertos (c. 50-30 BC), AV Quarter-Stater, debased laureate head of Apollo right, formed of three interlocking rows of outward facing crescents, a seven-spoked wheel at centre in lieu of ear, eye of visage with radiating spike towards neck line, IISVNIIRT[O]S commencing at 1 o'clock and running outwards behind head, pellet motives above and around, rev. tripled-tailed annulate horse left with pincer-like mandible for face and linear ear, with pelleted mane, yoke or bucranium [?] above head, 8-spoked wheel above spearing back, and double or triple [?] ringed annulet below, pelleted-E motif before forepart, unclear circular linear motif above tail, 1.142g [17.62grns], 9.7mm., 12h (Hants Cultural Trust Entry Form H4223 = PAS HAMP-9E612E this coin; VA -; BMC -; ABC -; Spink 193), a "ruler" unknown until March 2023 but undoubted contemporary of Caesar's client King Commios, of paler rose-gold fabric scientifically confirmed to be of a consistent metallurgical standard to the example offered at the 2023 Official Coinex auction in these rooms, on a small flan, a pleasing very fine / good very fine, EXCESSIVELY RARE and of great significance towards our understanding of the dissemination of classical language amongst tribal elites and dispossessed Gallic settlers in the century before the successful Claudian invasion of Britannia. Provenance, Found in Basingstoke and Deane (Hants), September 2014, ~ Recorded with Hampshire Cultural Trust, ref. PAS HAMP-9E612E ~, , , Prior to our announcement of the discovery of a new Iron Age ruler last September, it was also noted that two further coins existed in the corpus of this previously unknown Belgic ruler Esunertos, one being recorded as an uninscribed issue on the Portable Antiquities Scheme, and the other a previously unreported Base Silver Unit that was improperly recovered from a Scheduled Ancient Monument in the 1980s. Shortly following that record-breaking sale, the finder of the other Quarter-Stater contacted us at Spink enquiring about its potential sale. As the dust settled around the first, Spink have had the privilege to fully study this other coin, and secured further illustrations for posterity. The relevant heritage authorities have been made aware of this second and third finds as a matter of course in correspondence over the past year. Estimate: £4000 - £6000 |  |
