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Epaticcus Box Lion. Atrebates. c.AD20-40. Celtic silver unit. 11mm. 1.01g.
1/2
Auctioneer has chosen not to publish the price of this lot
Norwich, Norfolk
Description
Epaticcus Box Lion. Atrebates. c.AD20-40. Silver unit. 11mm. 1.01g. EPATI in box on vertical wreath, beaded border./ Lion leaping right, tail raised, standing on two exergual lines with pellets between. ABC 1355, VA 583, BMC 2330, S 359. VF, banker’s X on obverse, otherwise as struck in lightly toned silver, lovely lion with shaggy mane. Found Greywell, Hook, Hampshire, 26.3.2022. EXTREMELY RARE only five others recorded, including two plated, a badly damaged one and one in the British Museum. Reverse die UNIQUE?
When Epaticcus embarked on rulership south of the Thames, a master-engraver cut him some coin dies in finest contemporary Roman style. One set for silver units had his portrait head and Catuvellaunian credentials (ABC 1352), another emblazoned his name on a tablet, and both used a special form of the letter A with a dot, not a cross-bar, that anyone could associate with Epaticcus, whether or not they could actually read. Both designs had a charging lion reverse, which may actually have been the device on the gemstone in his personal signet ring. With an urgent need for more dies, perhaps while on campaign, a local engraver more used to drawing horses and shaggy dogs than lions, cut this set for him, which is known only from this coin. The way the lion plants one foot on a strip either side of a row of dots may be a deliberate reference to Epaticcus’ command on both banks of the River Thames. Few examples now remain of this early coinage: when Epaticcus took triumphant charge of wealthy Calleva he probably withdrew the old series, rewarding his troops with replacements in fresh silver proclaiming his victories and depicting him now wearing that lion’s skin himself, as a latter-day Hercules (ABC 1346). Dr Daphne Nash Briggs says: “The banker’s or money-changer’s discreet X might indicate value ‘10’ instead of nominal ‘12’ or validate the coin as a good Tenner (‘denarius’). By way of regional parallel, there was a silver ingot with graffito X as presumed mark or weight or value in an early context in the Hayling Island temple excavations, BNJ 1992, pp. 1-62” (pers.comm. 24.2.2023).
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Epaticcus Box Lion. Atrebates. c.AD20-40. Silver unit. 11mm. 1.01g. EPATI in box on vertical wreath, beaded border./ Lion leaping right, tail raised, standing on two exergual lines with pellets between. ABC 1355, VA 583, BMC 2330, S 359. VF, banker’s X on obverse, otherwise as struck in lightly toned silver, lovely lion with shaggy mane. Found Greywell, Hook, Hampshire, 26.3.2022. EXTREMELY RARE only five others recorded, including two plated, a badly damaged one and one in the British Museum. Reverse die UNIQUE?
When Epaticcus embarked on rulership south of the Thames, a master-engraver cut him some coin dies in finest contemporary Roman style. One set for silver units had his portrait head and Catuvellaunian credentials (ABC 1352), another emblazoned his name on a tablet, and both used a special form of the letter A with a dot, not a cross-bar, that anyone could associate with Epaticcus, whether or not they could actually read. Both designs had a charging lion reverse, which may actually have been the device on the gemstone in his personal signet ring. With an urgent need for more dies, perhaps while on campaign, a local engraver more used to drawing horses and shaggy dogs than lions, cut this set for him, which is known only from this coin. The way the lion plants one foot on a strip either side of a row of dots may be a deliberate reference to Epaticcus’ command on both banks of the River Thames. Few examples now remain of this early coinage: when Epaticcus took triumphant charge of wealthy Calleva he probably withdrew the old series, rewarding his troops with replacements in fresh silver proclaiming his victories and depicting him now wearing that lion’s skin himself, as a latter-day Hercules (ABC 1346). Dr Daphne Nash Briggs says: “The banker’s or money-changer’s discreet X might indicate value ‘10’ instead of nominal ‘12’ or validate the coin as a good Tenner (‘denarius’). By way of regional parallel, there was a silver ingot with graffito X as presumed mark or weight or value in an early context in the Hayling Island temple excavations, BNJ 1992, pp. 1-62” (pers.comm. 24.2.2023).
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