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Tasciovanos Taxciavan. c.25BC-AD10. Catuvellauni. Celtic gold stater. 17mm. 5.56g.
1/2
Auctioneer has chosen not to publish the price of this lot
Norwich, Norfolk
Description
Tasciovanos Taxciavan. Sills class 1b obv, 1a rev., dies 5/4.c.25BC-AD10. Gold stater. 17mm. 5.56g. Crossed-wreath motif with two opposed crescents and four ringed-pellets at centre forming hidden faces./ Horse right, two pellets below head, bucranium and solar motif above, ‘acorn-like’ object in front, hook-like object and ring below, traces of TAXCIAVAN above. ABC 2550, VA 1682, BMC 1604-05, DK 496 obv., 495 rev., S 215. Good EF, rich rose gold, wonderfully sharp wreath with clear hidden faces, bold horse, full bucranium. Ex T854 Toppesfield hoard, Essex, 2017. EXCESSIVELY RARE, only four others recorded from this pair of dies.
Rainer Kretz says: “TAXCIAVAN is undoubtedly the most ancient form (of the name), using an X in place of the later S” (SNC February 1998, p.4). The letter X is hardly ever used in Ancient British coin inscriptions apart from the Latin REX, cf. ABC 995, ABC 2054 and ABC 2628. This spectacular stater from the Toppesfield hoard, Essex, 2017, has it all: lots of fabulous hidden faces on the obverse, including a full badger’s face with striped eyes; plus a profusely ornamented reverse which displays a bold and beautiful horse, the all-important letter X of TAXCIAVAN and a complete bucranium. The bucranium (an ox-skull) was a key part of Augustan sacrificial imagery, imported onto British coins by Tasciovanos and other tribal kings who, like Augustus, saw themselves as chief priest and ruling by divine right. Augustus himself says: “I was pontifex maximus, augur, belonged to the colleges of the XV viri sacris faciundis and the VII viri epulonum, was an Arval Brother, sodalis Titius, and fetialis” (Res Gestae 67). This denarius of C.Antistius Vetus, Rome, 16 BC (BMC 4490) shows the sacred utensils – simpulum, lituus, tripod, patera – which designate the four major priesthoods to which Augustus belonged. The bucranium on this superb gold stater indicates that Tasciovanos was also aware of the sacral nature of his kingship and, like Augustus, probably performed some priestly duties within the Druid system, including perhaps the ritual sacrifice of bulls, as graphically illustrated by a bronze unit (ABC 2972) of his son Cunobelinus.
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Tasciovanos Taxciavan. Sills class 1b obv, 1a rev., dies 5/4.c.25BC-AD10. Gold stater. 17mm. 5.56g. Crossed-wreath motif with two opposed crescents and four ringed-pellets at centre forming hidden faces./ Horse right, two pellets below head, bucranium and solar motif above, ‘acorn-like’ object in front, hook-like object and ring below, traces of TAXCIAVAN above. ABC 2550, VA 1682, BMC 1604-05, DK 496 obv., 495 rev., S 215. Good EF, rich rose gold, wonderfully sharp wreath with clear hidden faces, bold horse, full bucranium. Ex T854 Toppesfield hoard, Essex, 2017. EXCESSIVELY RARE, only four others recorded from this pair of dies.
Rainer Kretz says: “TAXCIAVAN is undoubtedly the most ancient form (of the name), using an X in place of the later S” (SNC February 1998, p.4). The letter X is hardly ever used in Ancient British coin inscriptions apart from the Latin REX, cf. ABC 995, ABC 2054 and ABC 2628. This spectacular stater from the Toppesfield hoard, Essex, 2017, has it all: lots of fabulous hidden faces on the obverse, including a full badger’s face with striped eyes; plus a profusely ornamented reverse which displays a bold and beautiful horse, the all-important letter X of TAXCIAVAN and a complete bucranium. The bucranium (an ox-skull) was a key part of Augustan sacrificial imagery, imported onto British coins by Tasciovanos and other tribal kings who, like Augustus, saw themselves as chief priest and ruling by divine right. Augustus himself says: “I was pontifex maximus, augur, belonged to the colleges of the XV viri sacris faciundis and the VII viri epulonum, was an Arval Brother, sodalis Titius, and fetialis” (Res Gestae 67). This denarius of C.Antistius Vetus, Rome, 16 BC (BMC 4490) shows the sacred utensils – simpulum, lituus, tripod, patera – which designate the four major priesthoods to which Augustus belonged. The bucranium on this superb gold stater indicates that Tasciovanos was also aware of the sacral nature of his kingship and, like Augustus, probably performed some priestly duties within the Druid system, including perhaps the ritual sacrifice of bulls, as graphically illustrated by a bronze unit (ABC 2972) of his son Cunobelinus.
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