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Gold Tit. Pellets Type. c.50-30 BC. Celtic gold quarter stater. 12mm. 1.37g.
1/2
Auctioneer has chosen not to publish the price of this lot
Aylsham, Norfolk
Description
Gold Tit. Pellets Type. c.50-30 BC. Gold quarter stater. 12mm. 1.37g. Plain except for breast-like bulge with ringed-pellet in centre./ Horse right with beaded mane, ‘cog wheel’, ringed-pellet, ring and pellet above, ringed-pellets around. ABC−, VA−, BMC−, DK 482, S−. CCI 20.0286 (this coin). Unobtrusive hairline crack, otherwise Good VF, pale golden gold, beautifully ornamented. One of the finest known. Ex John Follows collection. EXCESSIVELY RARE only four others recorded.
Dr John Sills refers to the Gold Tit (so named by us in 1997) as the Ringed Pellet type (DK, p.489), “in the interests of public decency.” Okay, John, we understand. But our titillating title has serious intent: to uplift awareness not only of the coin itself, but also of its dual symbolism – sun and moon, male and female, god and goddess. Most early British gold coins depict this duality, which is why most obverses show not only a stylised form of the main male solar deity, commonly called ‘Apollo-head wreath motif’, but also refer to a female lunar deity, normally symbolised by crescent moons. In the case of the Gold Tit quarter stater, the male solar aspect is shown by the unmissable golden sun-disc and by the ringed-pellet at its centre (a universally recognised sun-sign). At the same time, the female aspect is signalled by the bulging breast-form and equally unmissable central nipple. “Breast is source. It is provision. It carries the potential for life within it. The Indo-European root bhreus, which means to swell or to sprout, leads us back to this core meaning…The first human encounter is with the breast, and the Latin word for breast is mamma…The associations with receptivity, silver and the moon are all feminine. The Egyptian hieroglyph means both breast and moon.” (The Book of Symbols: reflections on archetypal images, ed. Ami Ronnberg & Kathleen Martin, ARAS – Taschen Gmbh, Köln, 2010, p.388). Was the die cutter aware of the Gold Tit’s dual symbolism? We think so. But, if he wasn’t, his Druid tutors surely were. The Pellets Type is characterised by extra pellets and ringed pellets on the reverse, absent on ABC 2252 and DK 481. This is only the second we’ve had. Not in Ancient British Coins, Van Arsdell, Spink, nor the British Museum.
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Gold Tit. Pellets Type. c.50-30 BC. Gold quarter stater. 12mm. 1.37g. Plain except for breast-like bulge with ringed-pellet in centre./ Horse right with beaded mane, ‘cog wheel’, ringed-pellet, ring and pellet above, ringed-pellets around. ABC−, VA−, BMC−, DK 482, S−. CCI 20.0286 (this coin). Unobtrusive hairline crack, otherwise Good VF, pale golden gold, beautifully ornamented. One of the finest known. Ex John Follows collection. EXCESSIVELY RARE only four others recorded.
Dr John Sills refers to the Gold Tit (so named by us in 1997) as the Ringed Pellet type (DK, p.489), “in the interests of public decency.” Okay, John, we understand. But our titillating title has serious intent: to uplift awareness not only of the coin itself, but also of its dual symbolism – sun and moon, male and female, god and goddess. Most early British gold coins depict this duality, which is why most obverses show not only a stylised form of the main male solar deity, commonly called ‘Apollo-head wreath motif’, but also refer to a female lunar deity, normally symbolised by crescent moons. In the case of the Gold Tit quarter stater, the male solar aspect is shown by the unmissable golden sun-disc and by the ringed-pellet at its centre (a universally recognised sun-sign). At the same time, the female aspect is signalled by the bulging breast-form and equally unmissable central nipple. “Breast is source. It is provision. It carries the potential for life within it. The Indo-European root bhreus, which means to swell or to sprout, leads us back to this core meaning…The first human encounter is with the breast, and the Latin word for breast is mamma…The associations with receptivity, silver and the moon are all feminine. The Egyptian hieroglyph means both breast and moon.” (The Book of Symbols: reflections on archetypal images, ed. Ami Ronnberg & Kathleen Martin, ARAS – Taschen Gmbh, Köln, 2010, p.388). Was the die cutter aware of the Gold Tit’s dual symbolism? We think so. But, if he wasn’t, his Druid tutors surely were. The Pellets Type is characterised by extra pellets and ringed pellets on the reverse, absent on ABC 2252 and DK 481. This is only the second we’ve had. Not in Ancient British Coins, Van Arsdell, Spink, nor the British Museum.
Chris Rudd Auction 170 - John Follows Collection Part 2
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Aylsham
Norfolk
NR11 6TY
United Kingdom
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