41 - Insular Cf2

Copyright tcx3.co.uk

Unique ID: 41

Technical details
DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination

Quarter Stater

Metal

Gold

Area

Britain

Region

Southern

Issuing Authority

Regini

Issuer

Unknown

Weight

1.43g

Diameter

9.96mm

Rarity

Rare (31 to 50)

Date

70 BC to 55 BC (see note about dating)

Obverse Legend

No Legend

Reverse Legend

No Legend

Obverse Description

The obverse shows a boat with two figures. A pellet rosette appears to the left, although on this coin it appears as a raised blob.

The obverse is sometimes rotated 180 degrees and described as a stylised animal (normally a boar but sometimes a wolf), but the arguments for this are unconvincing and the text required to describe the design as a boar or other abstract animal becomes increasingly convoluted.

A possible interpretation of the boat and its passengers was presented by Daphne Nash Briggs in "Reading the images on lron-Age coins: I. the sun-boat and its passengers".

Reverse Description

A crooked line runs horizontally, with an anemone above. A number of lines radiate from the top and right hand side. On the left hand side a pellet on a short stalk cones from the crooked line. Below the line is the standard Y shaped object and line from the GB-Ca2 quarters.

Bt. From finder on Ebay 2018. Item number 153188022191

Found Lavenham in Suffolk (Aug/Sept 2018)

ABC

ABC 530. Sills Insular Cf

Divided Kingdoms

DK 133. Insular Cf2 Class 1

Sills 2003

Sills 460. Insular Cf2 Class 1

Insular Cf2 is the earliest identifiable British gold coinage. It was derived from, and contemporary with, the later GB-Ca2 classes (see 45). It is split into two classes, with the first starting as a near identical copy of GB-Ca2, and the second class being a much cruder copy. It is likely that the dies for the first class were cut by an experienced continental engraver who had worked on GB-Ca2, and the dies for the cruder second class were cut by a newly trained British engraver.

This coin is one of the class 1 coins. These are difficult to distinguish from GB-Ca2, and as a result, many GB-Ca2 are sold as Insular Cf because Insular Cf is listed in ABC as Extremely Rare (6 to 15) and used to attract a premium. However, they are now only Rare (31 to 50) and both types fetch the same price (although the copied GB-Ca2 class 5 is rarer).

This is one of two in the collection (see 29).