33 - Lincolnshire Boat Tree - The TCx3 Collection

Unique ID: 33

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Quarter Stater	Metal	Gold
Area	Britain	Region	North Eastern
Issuing Authority	Corieltavi	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	1.42g	Diameter	11mm
Rarity	Extremely Rare (6 to 15)	Date	70 BC to 55 BC (see note about dating)

Obverse Legend	No Legend
Reverse Legend	No Legend
Obverse Description	The obverse shows the remains of a boat with two figures, although due to the way the die has worn it is the indents that are visually dominant, giving it the appearance of a paw print. 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	The reverse is dominated by a horizontal line with a pellet below. Damage to the centre of the coin (or a clogged die?) has obliterated the middle of the line and the top of the pellet. There are traces of some comma shaped lines in the bottom half of the coin, and two lines intruding from the edge of the flan above. This is the last known die for this type.

Bt. From finder on Ebay 2018. Item number 222964482796

Found on the Lincoln / Norfolk border

ABC	ABC 1764. Lincolnshire Boat Tree

This quarter stater is the earliest of the Corieltavian Scyphate quarter staters. The type is almost an exact copy of Gallo-Belgic Ca2 Class 4 (for example, see CCI 98.1862) which dates it to around 80-60 BC. The obverse has been aptly described as a “paw print” but if you look at the raised areas, it’s just the standard two-men-in-a-boat design with the surfaces worn flat and only the indented areas remaining.

This is one of two in the collection (see 25).