51 - Duro Boat Gold - The TCx3 Collection

Unique ID: 51

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Quarter Stater	Metal	Gold
Area	Britain	Region	South Western
Issuing Authority	Durotriges	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	0.66g	Diameter	10.64mm
Rarity	Scarce (51 to 100)	Date	70 BC to 55 BC (see note about dating)

Obverse Legend	No Legend
Reverse Legend	No Legend
Obverse Description	The obverse shows a boat with two figures. The remains of a pellet ring on the left. The obverse has been triple struck, giving it a different appearance from normal. 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. A bird shaped object appears in the lower right field. The upper left field contains an unidentified L shaped object. 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. Ebay 2018. Item number 264051373999

ABC	ABC 2205. Duro Boat Gold
Van Arsdell	VA 1225-01. Durotrigan A – Early Geometric Type

The Duro Boat Gold quarter staters were minted by the Durotriges around 80-50 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. Despite being only a fragment of a coin, I was attracted to this one because of the die break on the reverse. The curved line of the die break crosses a horizontal line, making an elongated S shape that ends with tendrils. This is exactly the same motif that appears on the Hampshire Thunderbolt quarter staters (see 2, 14, 28, 32, 37, 40, 43, 50, 117, 120, 122, and 123), and it makes me wonder if this broken reverse die was the inspiration for the new style reverses on those coins.

This is one of seven in the collection (see 7, 8, 12, 16, 42, and 112).

Note that despite being a “Scarce” coin (51 to 100 known), it is not listed in Spink’s “Coins of England and The United Kingdom: Standard Catalogue of British Coins” book. The number normally given is S.368 but the book is quite clear that is for the silver coins only.