37
Middle Whaddon Chase. Curved Wreath. c.55-45 BC. Celtic gold stater. 19mm. 5.47g.
1/2
Auctioneer has chosen not to publish the price of this lot
Aylsham, Norfolk
Description
Middle Whaddon Chase. Sills British Lb, Class 2, Curved Wreath. c.55-45 BC. Gold stater. 19mm. 5.47g. Crossed-wreath design with two back-to-back outline crescents in centre, pellets and ornaments in angles./ Naturalistic horse right, with corded mane, pellets and crescent above, large ringed-pellet below. ABC 2445, VA 1493, BMC 338-41, DK 470, S 32. CCI 20.0288 (this coin). Unobtrusive hairline crack, otherwise EF, large tidy flan of golden gold, bold well centred horse. Ex John Follows collection. Found Manea, Cambs., 2016. RARE only 32 others recorded.
Thanks to its uncommonly generous flan, many hidden faces can easily be identified on John Follows’ magnificent Middle Whaddon Chase gold stater. There is one in particular which works well as a stylised face whichever way up you view it: one way the face has huge eyebrows, rather like the tufted eyebrows of an owl; the other way the face has a large walrus moustache. It is on this Curved Wreath type that the two ringed corn ears become most apparent, emphasising the ripening power of the sun which is denoted by the ringed-pellet at each end of the corn ears which clearly cannot be mistaken for Apollo’s laurel leaves and which link this stater to the Duck Helmet silver unit, ABC 2380 (Lot 36). It is also on this stater that the opposed crescent moons are highlighted, because these paired crescents occur not only on the obverse, but also above the horse. These back-to-back crescent moons were repeatedly copied not only by the Iceni (see Lots 20 and 21) but also by the Corieltauvi (see Lots 25 and 26) and by later rulers of the Catuvellauni and Trinovantes (see Lots 39, 40 and 41). Back-to-back crescent moons remind us that Celtic peoples in Britain and Gaul marked the seasons and key times of year by means of a lunar calendar, as attested by the massive bronze calendar plate (5ft x 3ft 6in) found at the end of 19th century at Coligny, near Bourg-en-Bresse, northern France. Two crescent moons – one waxing, the other waning – may also symbolise growth and decay, birth and death, and the Druid doctrine of reincarnation, as attested by Caesar (BG 6.14) and by frequent references to rebirth in old Irish mythology, such as the Second Branch of the Mabinogi.
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Middle Whaddon Chase. Sills British Lb, Class 2, Curved Wreath. c.55-45 BC. Gold stater. 19mm. 5.47g. Crossed-wreath design with two back-to-back outline crescents in centre, pellets and ornaments in angles./ Naturalistic horse right, with corded mane, pellets and crescent above, large ringed-pellet below. ABC 2445, VA 1493, BMC 338-41, DK 470, S 32. CCI 20.0288 (this coin). Unobtrusive hairline crack, otherwise EF, large tidy flan of golden gold, bold well centred horse. Ex John Follows collection. Found Manea, Cambs., 2016. RARE only 32 others recorded.
Thanks to its uncommonly generous flan, many hidden faces can easily be identified on John Follows’ magnificent Middle Whaddon Chase gold stater. There is one in particular which works well as a stylised face whichever way up you view it: one way the face has huge eyebrows, rather like the tufted eyebrows of an owl; the other way the face has a large walrus moustache. It is on this Curved Wreath type that the two ringed corn ears become most apparent, emphasising the ripening power of the sun which is denoted by the ringed-pellet at each end of the corn ears which clearly cannot be mistaken for Apollo’s laurel leaves and which link this stater to the Duck Helmet silver unit, ABC 2380 (Lot 36). It is also on this stater that the opposed crescent moons are highlighted, because these paired crescents occur not only on the obverse, but also above the horse. These back-to-back crescent moons were repeatedly copied not only by the Iceni (see Lots 20 and 21) but also by the Corieltauvi (see Lots 25 and 26) and by later rulers of the Catuvellauni and Trinovantes (see Lots 39, 40 and 41). Back-to-back crescent moons remind us that Celtic peoples in Britain and Gaul marked the seasons and key times of year by means of a lunar calendar, as attested by the massive bronze calendar plate (5ft x 3ft 6in) found at the end of 19th century at Coligny, near Bourg-en-Bresse, northern France. Two crescent moons – one waxing, the other waning – may also symbolise growth and decay, birth and death, and the Druid doctrine of reincarnation, as attested by Caesar (BG 6.14) and by frequent references to rebirth in old Irish mythology, such as the Second Branch of the Mabinogi.
Chris Rudd Auction 170 - John Follows Collection Part 2
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Aylsham
Norfolk
NR11 6TY
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