Browse by Reference - Allen Types

Derek Allen defined a system for classifying Celtic coins into types in his 1958 Origins paper (“The Origins of Coinage in Britain: A Reappraisal” in “Problems Of The Iron Age In Southern Britain”). Coins from Belgic Gaul started with “Gallo-Belgic” (or “GB” for short), and coins from Britain started with “British”. A capital letter was then used to denote the type, and a lower case letter to denote a sub-type if required. If a series has staters and quarter staters, the name ends in a 1 (staters) or 2 (quarters).

For example, GB-Ca2 is a quarter starer (2) from Belgic Gaul (GB) of type “C”, sub-type “a”. This naming scheme was adopted and altered by Dr John Sills in “Divided Kingdoms”, and it is his version that is used here.