50 - Hampshire Thunderbolt - The TCx3 Collection

Unique ID: 50

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Quarter Stater	Metal	Gold
Area	Britain	Region	Southern
Issuing Authority	Belgae	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	1.36g	Diameter	12.81mm
Rarity	Scarce (51 to 100)	Date	53 BC to 50 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 left, and an array of pellets appears on the right. 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	An elongated S shaped line (the thunderbolt) runs vertically, bisecting a straight horizontal line. The upper right quadrant contains most of a butterfly shaped object. The lower left quadrant contains an L shaped object with pellets with a U shape below. The upper left quadrant is mainly off flan, but the diagonal line is still present. The lower right quadrant contains a large crescent with a pellet inside it, and one outside it. containing the remains of two pellets. Note that the intended orientation on the reverse is unknown.

Bt. From finder(?) on Ebay 2018. Item number 123525804725

Found on the Hampshire / Wiltshire border

ABC	ABC 767. Hampshire Thunderbolt
Divided Kingdoms	DK 304 – 306. British B2 – Thunderbolt
Van Arsdell	VA 203-01. Atrebatic A – Geometric Type
Spink	S 46. Geometric Type

The Hampshire Thunderbolt quarter staters were minted by the Belgae (or more likely an unknown tribe no longer in the historical record) around 53-50 BC. They are a continuation of the boat and geometric theme started by the Morini tribe with their GB-Ca2 and GB-D quarter staters.

This is one of twelve in the collection (see 2, 14, 28, 32, 37, 40, 43, 117, 120, 122, and 123).