9 - Duro Boat Bird - The TCx3 Collection

Unique ID: 9

Technical details

DataDescriptionProvenanceReferences

Denomination	Quarter Stater	Metal	Silver
Area	Britain	Region	South Western
Issuing Authority	Durotriges	Issuer	Unknown
Weight	1.29g	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. An S shaped object appears on the right, and the remains of a pellet ring on the left. 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.

Roma Numismatics E-Sale 38, Lot 20 (2017)

CCI 84.0300 (PAS, CCI)

Found in the 1983 Shapwick Hoard (“Coin Hoards in Iron Age Britain” by Philip de Jersey). This is one of the coins recorded by Melinda Mays

ABC	ABC 2208. Duro Boat Bird
Van Arsdell	VA 1242-01. Durotrigan A – Late Geometric Type
Spink	S 368. Geometric Type

The Duro Boat Gold and the Duro Boat Bird quarter staters were minted by the Durotriges around 80-50 BC and 50-20 BC respectively. They are a continuation of the boat and geometric theme started by the Morini tribe with their GB-Ca2 and GB-D quarter staters. The Durotriges started minting these coins in gold but transitioned to silver as their gold stocks ran out. The transition between the gold and silver coinages is subtle and it’s not always clear whether a particular coin should be categorised as Duro Boat Gold (gold) or Duro Boat Bird (silver). The blue iridescent toning on this coin shows that it has a high silver content, but as it has a significant golden hue it could be assigned to either. My opinion is that if I’m not sure if it’s gold, then it’s not.

This is one of eight in the collection (see 1, 13, 15, 99, 100, 110, and 118).