Reproduction Durotriges Silver Stater

Obverse: Durotrigan wreath pattern with upward facing leaves.

Reverse: Triple-tailed disjointed Celtic horse left, eleven pellets above, bean behind and large pellet below.

History: The Durotriges, ‘fort dwellers’ or ‘fort runner’, were a close-knit Celtic confederacy of smaller tribes centred in modern Dorset, south Wiltshire and south Somerset, prior to the Roman invasion of 43AD. Their tribal capital was Maiden Castle (Dorset) and / or Durnovaria (Dorchester) and they controlled two major harbours, Poole and Christchurch. They had trade relations with their Armorican neighbours and were excellent sailors.

The Durotriges coinage is one of the most distinctive due to its rapid debasement. The disappearance of precious metals from the coinage would suggest an issue with the supply of silver to the area in the early first century A.D, perhaps linked to the declining trade between the south-west of Britain and western Gaul, following the Roman conquest of Gaul.

This silver stater coin is known as the Bradbury Rings type, and is named after one of its early find-spots. Badbury Rings is an Iron Age hill fort in east Dorset, which was in the territory of the Durotriges.

Date: 58-45 BC 

Diameter: 1.9cm