46 - Duro Boat Dots - The TCx3 Collection

Unique ID: 46

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Quarter Stater	Metal	Silver
Area	Britain	Region	South Western
Issuing Authority	Durotriges	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	0.92g	Diameter	12mm
Rarity	Common (101 to 200)	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. There’s a pellet between the legs of the rightmost figure. A partial S shaped object appears on the right. A pellet triad is on the left level with the boat, and the oars end with pellets. 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 lines running parallel to the vertical sections. The top left is a straight line and the top right is a pelleted line. These reverse sides on the lower half of the thunderbolt, although the lower pelleted line is worn on this particular coin. The upper left quadrant contains an irregularly shaped blob, and the upper right the very edge of a “clamshell” motif, seen here as lines radiating in from the edge of the flan. Below this is a horizontal bar ending in a Y shape. The lower right quadrant contains what was the “bird” in the Duro Boat Gold and Duro Boat Bird quarters, and what will become the “Rat” in the Badbury Rat quarters. It’s the remains of the Anenome from the continental GB-Ca2 and GB-D quarters. The lower left quadrant contains the remains of a ring

Bought from David Turner. Ebay Item number 392166741936 (2018)

Ex David Turner collection

Ex Chris Rudd list 50, no. 95 (2000)

Ex Baldwin’s

CCI 00.0579

ABC	ABC 2211. Duro Boat Dots (This coin)
Van Arsdell	VA 1249-01. Durotrigan G – Second Geometric Type
Spink	S 368. Geometric Type

The Duro Boat Dot quarter staters were minted by the Durotriges around 50-20 BC, and as they are a continuation of the Duro Boat Bird quarter stater series, they probably sit towards the end of this date range. Despite being listed as Common (101-200 coins), this has been one of the harder types to get for my collection.

The transition from the Duro Boat Dots type to the Badbury Rat type (ABC 2214; see 10 and 23) is indistinct, and it is likely that they are different ends of the same type which had decreasing precious metal and weight. The description given in “Ancient British Coins” isn’t detailed enough to definitively categorise all coins of these types. This one however is definitely a Duro Boat Dots as the obverse isn’t worn, and it’s the ABC plate coin for the type.

This is one of two in the collection (see 87).