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Tent Type. Osismii.c.80-60 BC. Celtic base gold quarter stater. 13mm. 1.31g.
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Norwich, Norfolk
Description
Tent Type. Osismii.c.80-60 BC. Base gold quarter stater. 13mm. 1.31g. Crescentic head right with large rolls of hair, beaded cordon in front of face./ Human-headed horse right, tiny human head holding reins above, 'tent' motif below comprising a cabled pelta with three columns of dashes below. LT 6774, DT 2215, de Jersey Armorica, fig. 41. Small chip, otherwise Good VF, dark rose gold, tent fully revealed. A most unusual quarter stater. UK found. EXCESSIVELY RARE as UK find.
The Osismii produced a large and inventive range of gold and billon coinage from their territory in western Brittany, perhaps in a limited period before the Gallic War, as Dr Philip de Jersey says. Best known from several big hoards, it is seldom found outside home territory, so a quarter stater from Britain is exceptional. Their tribal name, meaning “Last” or “Ultimate”, was already known to the Greek navigator, Pytheas, in the 4th century BC, and reflects their position at the farthest end of mainland Gaul. The tent type, so named from the motif draped beneath the typical Armorican human-headed horse, seems to have been the commonest of the four or five main strands of their coinage, and seems concentrated in Côtes du Nord, on the north and west of the St Brieuc – Lannion peninsula (de Jersey Armorica map p. 207). The “tent” symbol must, at very least, be the distinguishing mark of whoever issued this strand of Osismian coinage. Maybe it suggests a military tent with ornate drapery, for soldiers on campaign; or did this very elegant engraver also intend us to picture the whole Osismian people – three ranks of citizen (nobles, druids, and warriors), three districts with their fields – held together, like a curtain, in the tribal god’s strong arms - by the tribal assembly and protected by the Sun (-horse)?
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Tent Type. Osismii.c.80-60 BC. Base gold quarter stater. 13mm. 1.31g. Crescentic head right with large rolls of hair, beaded cordon in front of face./ Human-headed horse right, tiny human head holding reins above, 'tent' motif below comprising a cabled pelta with three columns of dashes below. LT 6774, DT 2215, de Jersey Armorica, fig. 41. Small chip, otherwise Good VF, dark rose gold, tent fully revealed. A most unusual quarter stater. UK found. EXCESSIVELY RARE as UK find.
The Osismii produced a large and inventive range of gold and billon coinage from their territory in western Brittany, perhaps in a limited period before the Gallic War, as Dr Philip de Jersey says. Best known from several big hoards, it is seldom found outside home territory, so a quarter stater from Britain is exceptional. Their tribal name, meaning “Last” or “Ultimate”, was already known to the Greek navigator, Pytheas, in the 4th century BC, and reflects their position at the farthest end of mainland Gaul. The tent type, so named from the motif draped beneath the typical Armorican human-headed horse, seems to have been the commonest of the four or five main strands of their coinage, and seems concentrated in Côtes du Nord, on the north and west of the St Brieuc – Lannion peninsula (de Jersey Armorica map p. 207). The “tent” symbol must, at very least, be the distinguishing mark of whoever issued this strand of Osismian coinage. Maybe it suggests a military tent with ornate drapery, for soldiers on campaign; or did this very elegant engraver also intend us to picture the whole Osismian people – three ranks of citizen (nobles, druids, and warriors), three districts with their fields – held together, like a curtain, in the tribal god’s strong arms - by the tribal assembly and protected by the Sun (-horse)?
Chris Rudd Auction 174
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