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Berkshire Boars. Berkshire. c.55-40 BC. Celtic silver unit. 16mm. 1.13g.
1/2
Auctioneer has chosen not to publish the price of this lot
Norwich, Norfolk
Description
Berkshire Boars. Berkshire. c.55-40 BC. Silver unit. 16mm. 1.13g. Two opposed boars with long snout, long ear, long crescentic tusk, ladder-like dorsal bristles, V-shaped feet, and long tail with ring at end; ringed-pellet and two rings between them; small duck-like creature either side; rings and ringed-pellets around./ Long-legged horse galloping left with dewlap, linear ladder-mane, high arched tail, lanky legs with curved hooves, belt around neck and belly; spoked wheel above; stylised boar-standard, outline crescent and neck torc below; outline crescent in front; rings around. ABC–, VA–, BMC–, S–. CCI 23.0066 (this coin). New type, hitherto unpublished and unrecorded. Near EF, bright silver, beautifully struck with all animals clearly defined, lavishly ornamented. An exceptional example of a significant silver coin. Found by Lee Fox near Ogbourne St George, Wiltshire, at 11:00 am, 4 February 2023. Of the highest rarity, no others known and possibly UNIQUE?
We are normally cautious about attributing new Celtic coin types to particular tribes, especially when only one example is known and especially when we don’t know the name of the tribe that we think may have issued it. However, there can be no doubt whatsoever that this exciting new silver coin, recently discovered by metal detectorist Lee Fox, 55, belongs to a tribe known as ‘the Berkshire group’. The three boars are identical to the boars on other Berkshire units (ABC 1001, 1004, 1016). The small duck-like creature is not unlike a small unidentified creature on both sides of the Berkshire Crescents gold quarter stater, ABC 998. Berkshire-group coins are highly prized by collectors for their characteristically Belgic images of animals and birds; there is always more than one shown on every coin, and as many as five or six on the Abingdon Zoo (Right Type) silver unit, ABC 1004. The two opposed boars and stylised boar-standard on this Berkshire Boars unit are derived directly from bronze coins of the Ambiani, c.60-40 BC, especially LT 8518, DT 464. Professor Miranda Aldhouse-Green says that the boar is “perhaps the most important zoomorphic symbol for the Celts…Boars are natural war symbols. They are ferocious and indomitable, and it is significant that images of boars frequently emphasize the raised dorsal bristles of the attacking boar. Boars with prominent spinal crests are common on Celtic coins, where they may be war motifs” (Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend, Thames & Hudson, 1992, p.44). Boars, being denizens of dark forests, are also symbolic of the darker, more dangerous forces of the night, emphasised by the two crescent moons on the reverse of the Berkshire Boars coin. This is significant when one remembers that the Druids reckoned time by nights, not days, as evidenced by the Coligny Calendar, 1st century BC. Thus the back-to-back boars on this coin, with suns and full moons between them (as well as around them), may well represent the constant nocturnal-diurnal cycle of time. This is a clever visual device. As you rotate the coin, night (boar) becomes day (duck swimming in sunlight) and last night (upside-down boar) turns into tonight (upright boar)… and so on and so on. This conceals a more serious message: as surely as night follows day, the military might of the ruler who struck this coin will prevail. The neck torc encircling the ring (sun or full moon) implies the royalty of this Berkshire ruler and his divine right to rule. The ducks suggest that his kingdom was based near a major river – the Thames maybe and possibly the Somme before that? So who was he, where did he come from and when? We surmise that he may formerly have been a rich chieftain or noble warrior of the Ambiani in the Somme Valley, that he fled to Britain with his family during the Gallic Wars (58-51 BC), sailed up the Thames and settled in what is now Berkshire. He may even had brought an Ambianic engraver with him. Dr John Sills thinks this coin “may be a British type engraved by a Belgic die cutter” (pers.comm. 25.2.2023). Berkshire Boars is one of the rarest, loveliest and most securely provenanced boar coins ever found in Britain. The long snouts and prominent dorsal bristles of its boars remind us of The Bordeaux Boar, a bronze figurine we sold twenty years ago.
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Berkshire Boars. Berkshire. c.55-40 BC. Silver unit. 16mm. 1.13g. Two opposed boars with long snout, long ear, long crescentic tusk, ladder-like dorsal bristles, V-shaped feet, and long tail with ring at end; ringed-pellet and two rings between them; small duck-like creature either side; rings and ringed-pellets around./ Long-legged horse galloping left with dewlap, linear ladder-mane, high arched tail, lanky legs with curved hooves, belt around neck and belly; spoked wheel above; stylised boar-standard, outline crescent and neck torc below; outline crescent in front; rings around. ABC–, VA–, BMC–, S–. CCI 23.0066 (this coin). New type, hitherto unpublished and unrecorded. Near EF, bright silver, beautifully struck with all animals clearly defined, lavishly ornamented. An exceptional example of a significant silver coin. Found by Lee Fox near Ogbourne St George, Wiltshire, at 11:00 am, 4 February 2023. Of the highest rarity, no others known and possibly UNIQUE?
We are normally cautious about attributing new Celtic coin types to particular tribes, especially when only one example is known and especially when we don’t know the name of the tribe that we think may have issued it. However, there can be no doubt whatsoever that this exciting new silver coin, recently discovered by metal detectorist Lee Fox, 55, belongs to a tribe known as ‘the Berkshire group’. The three boars are identical to the boars on other Berkshire units (ABC 1001, 1004, 1016). The small duck-like creature is not unlike a small unidentified creature on both sides of the Berkshire Crescents gold quarter stater, ABC 998. Berkshire-group coins are highly prized by collectors for their characteristically Belgic images of animals and birds; there is always more than one shown on every coin, and as many as five or six on the Abingdon Zoo (Right Type) silver unit, ABC 1004. The two opposed boars and stylised boar-standard on this Berkshire Boars unit are derived directly from bronze coins of the Ambiani, c.60-40 BC, especially LT 8518, DT 464. Professor Miranda Aldhouse-Green says that the boar is “perhaps the most important zoomorphic symbol for the Celts…Boars are natural war symbols. They are ferocious and indomitable, and it is significant that images of boars frequently emphasize the raised dorsal bristles of the attacking boar. Boars with prominent spinal crests are common on Celtic coins, where they may be war motifs” (Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend, Thames & Hudson, 1992, p.44). Boars, being denizens of dark forests, are also symbolic of the darker, more dangerous forces of the night, emphasised by the two crescent moons on the reverse of the Berkshire Boars coin. This is significant when one remembers that the Druids reckoned time by nights, not days, as evidenced by the Coligny Calendar, 1st century BC. Thus the back-to-back boars on this coin, with suns and full moons between them (as well as around them), may well represent the constant nocturnal-diurnal cycle of time. This is a clever visual device. As you rotate the coin, night (boar) becomes day (duck swimming in sunlight) and last night (upside-down boar) turns into tonight (upright boar)… and so on and so on. This conceals a more serious message: as surely as night follows day, the military might of the ruler who struck this coin will prevail. The neck torc encircling the ring (sun or full moon) implies the royalty of this Berkshire ruler and his divine right to rule. The ducks suggest that his kingdom was based near a major river – the Thames maybe and possibly the Somme before that? So who was he, where did he come from and when? We surmise that he may formerly have been a rich chieftain or noble warrior of the Ambiani in the Somme Valley, that he fled to Britain with his family during the Gallic Wars (58-51 BC), sailed up the Thames and settled in what is now Berkshire. He may even had brought an Ambianic engraver with him. Dr John Sills thinks this coin “may be a British type engraved by a Belgic die cutter” (pers.comm. 25.2.2023). Berkshire Boars is one of the rarest, loveliest and most securely provenanced boar coins ever found in Britain. The long snouts and prominent dorsal bristles of its boars remind us of The Bordeaux Boar, a bronze figurine we sold twenty years ago.
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