57 - Double Snake - The TCx3 Collection

Unique ID: 57

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Quarter Stater	Metal	Gold
Area	Britain	Region	North Thames
Issuing Authority	Segontiaci	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	1.28g	Diameter	11.05mm
Rarity	Excessively Rare (2 to 5)	Date	53 BC to 40 BC (see note about dating)

Obverse Legend	No Legend
Reverse Legend	No Legend
Obverse Description	The obverse is blank apart from a pellet and two faint bands. This banding is common on Cantiaci gold coins.
Reverse Description	The reverse centres around a tree like object (also called a trophy) with a thin trunk and six branches; three at each side. At its base is an annulet with two roots. Each root ends in a ringed pellet although the one on the right is off flan. To the left and right of the trunk are two snake like objects with annulet heads. The one on the right is mainly off flan. Above these is a dotted line and below is a straight line. It’s not clear if both of these would be present on the right if that area had been on the flan. To the upper left of the tree are the remains of two objects which might have been rings.

CCI 19.2678

Bt. Silbury Coins item ID BC407 (2019)

Ex David Turner collection

Found Keledon, Essex.

Divided Kingdoms

DK 447. British Le2 – Double Snake

The Double Snake quarter stater is part of the British Le2 series which was minted by an unknown tribe in the Essex area. There are four types of Le2 quarter staters, the others being S-Type (see 55), Floret (see 60), and Beaded Trophy (see 56), all featuring the banded obverses that were a staple of the coins from Kent. They also all have reverses derived from GB-D, which is also common for Kentish coins (see 44), suggesting that the tribe responsible had emigrated from Kent to North of the Thames. Caesar named five tribes who surrendered to him north of the Thames, and the S on the obverse of the S-Type suggests that it might have been the Segontiaci.

This particular coin is reverse die 1, and is one of only two coins known from this reverse die. The obverse has an arced pattern around the edge which doesn’t appear on any of the other four known coins.