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Puckeridge Boar. Eastern. c.50-30 BC. Celtic silver half unit. 10mm. 0.58g.
1/2
Auctioneer has chosen not to publish the price of this lot
Norwich, Norfolk
Description
Puckeridge Boar. Eastern. c.50-30 BC. Silver half unit. 10mm. 0.58g. Long-legged boar standard right on exergual corded line, wheel and solar daisy above, zigzag in exergue, ringed-pellet triad under head./ Horse left, beaded mane, foal above, and ‘waterspout’ motif behind, ringed-pellets around. ABC 2306, VA−, BMC 645, S−. Unobtrusive hairline crack, otherwise Good EF, sharply struck in good quality bright silver, stunning boar, superb horse, beautifully ornamented. An exceptional piece. Found near Bygrave, Herts. EXCESSIVELY RARE only one other recorded (a badly chipped one in the British Museum).
The first and only other example (ABC 2306 CCI 73.0837) comes from the collection of war hero Henry Mossop DFC, (1919-88) ‘the flying farmer’, who was a pioneer metal detectorist, distinguished numismatist, author of The Lincoln Mint (1970) and a prodigious collector who recorded the findspots of all his coins, whether bought or found. This sensational specimen – twice as nice as Mossop’s – was found by Luke Denham at 10am, Saturday, 19 December 2020, near Bygrave in Hertfordshire. It is from a set of fractional denominations designed by someone of exceptional skill probably in 49/48 BC (see Dr John Sills Divided Kingdoms pp. 726–9). Minted perhaps at Braughing/Puckeridge for local use, they seem to reflect a Catuvellaunian leader’s bellicose attitude and designs on the Trinovantes. His battle-boar - an unusual image for Catuvellauni - evokes the tribal name, ‘men excelling in battle’ and stands ready for action on a rope-like base line with sun-disk terminals that echoes the obverse of the set’s quarter stater (ABC 2469). On the reverse, a mare canters with a small beast literally joined to her haunch: she's a territory with dependants. What looks like her foal (‘may her tribe increase’) is a powerful entity with a bird's beak, horse's ear, and a hare's back leg - emblems perhaps of dominant local clans, also represented elsewhere in the set (cf. ABC 2481, 2499). These have split apart an Essex “World Tree” (e.g. ABC 2249), run off with its mighty triple sun-disks, and have kicked away its rootless branches. This was strong talk, possible now that Caesar had departed from Gaul, but they may not actually have attacked the Trinovantes, even now. This beautiful Puckeridge Boar is the only known example in private hands and only the second ever offered for public sale (the first was sold in 1991 and is now in the British Museum).
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Puckeridge Boar. Eastern. c.50-30 BC. Silver half unit. 10mm. 0.58g. Long-legged boar standard right on exergual corded line, wheel and solar daisy above, zigzag in exergue, ringed-pellet triad under head./ Horse left, beaded mane, foal above, and ‘waterspout’ motif behind, ringed-pellets around. ABC 2306, VA−, BMC 645, S−. Unobtrusive hairline crack, otherwise Good EF, sharply struck in good quality bright silver, stunning boar, superb horse, beautifully ornamented. An exceptional piece. Found near Bygrave, Herts. EXCESSIVELY RARE only one other recorded (a badly chipped one in the British Museum).
The first and only other example (ABC 2306 CCI 73.0837) comes from the collection of war hero Henry Mossop DFC, (1919-88) ‘the flying farmer’, who was a pioneer metal detectorist, distinguished numismatist, author of The Lincoln Mint (1970) and a prodigious collector who recorded the findspots of all his coins, whether bought or found. This sensational specimen – twice as nice as Mossop’s – was found by Luke Denham at 10am, Saturday, 19 December 2020, near Bygrave in Hertfordshire. It is from a set of fractional denominations designed by someone of exceptional skill probably in 49/48 BC (see Dr John Sills Divided Kingdoms pp. 726–9). Minted perhaps at Braughing/Puckeridge for local use, they seem to reflect a Catuvellaunian leader’s bellicose attitude and designs on the Trinovantes. His battle-boar - an unusual image for Catuvellauni - evokes the tribal name, ‘men excelling in battle’ and stands ready for action on a rope-like base line with sun-disk terminals that echoes the obverse of the set’s quarter stater (ABC 2469). On the reverse, a mare canters with a small beast literally joined to her haunch: she's a territory with dependants. What looks like her foal (‘may her tribe increase’) is a powerful entity with a bird's beak, horse's ear, and a hare's back leg - emblems perhaps of dominant local clans, also represented elsewhere in the set (cf. ABC 2481, 2499). These have split apart an Essex “World Tree” (e.g. ABC 2249), run off with its mighty triple sun-disks, and have kicked away its rootless branches. This was strong talk, possible now that Caesar had departed from Gaul, but they may not actually have attacked the Trinovantes, even now. This beautiful Puckeridge Boar is the only known example in private hands and only the second ever offered for public sale (the first was sold in 1991 and is now in the British Museum).
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