21 - Stippled - The TCx3 Collection

Unique ID: 21

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Quarter Stater	Metal	Gold
Area	Britain	Region	South Western
Issuing Authority	Durotriges	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	1.51g	Diameter	11.5mm
Rarity	Rare (31 to 50)	Date	50 BC to 20 BC (see note about dating)

Obverse Legend	No Legend
Reverse Legend	No Legend
Obverse Description	The obverse shows a boat with two figures. An S shaped object appears on the right, and the remains of a pellet ring on the left. 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 zig-zag line (sometimes called a thunderbolt) runs vertically with Y shaped objects in the lower left and upper right fields. The upper left quadrant is solid with a stippled finish. The upper part of the thunderbolt is not a separately defined object on this coin, but on others of the type it can clearly be seen as the edge of the stippled area. A bird shaped object appears in the lower right field. Note that the intended orientation on the reverse is unknown. It is traditionally shown with the zig-zag line as vertical, but as this is derived from the GB-Ca2 quarter staters, it should probably be shown with that line horizontal.

Bt. Roma Numismatics Auction E-Sale 40, Lot 3

Divided Kingdoms

DK 298. British Af2 – Stippled

The Stippled quarter staters have traditionally been considered to be die variations of the Duro Boat Gold and Duro Boat Bird quarter staters, but they are now considered to be a separate issue because they also begin in gold and end in silver while remaining typologically distinct from the Boat quarters. They are very similar to the Duro Boat Gold and Duro Boat Bird quarter staters with the exception that one quarter of the reverse is solid with a stippled finish.

It’s probable that they were also minted by the Durotriges at the same time as the Duro Boat Gold and Duro Boat Bird quarter staters.

This is one of three in the collection (see 19 and 119).