Sale: Triton VII, Lot: 1225. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Monday, 12 January 2004.  Sold For $1100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CELTIC ENGLAND. Uncertain tribe on the Somme. Circa 1st century BC. AV Quarter Stater (1.43 gm). Cross-channel prototype. Very stylized head of Apollo right; "wing" below / Horse galloping right; carnyx (horn) above, pellet-in-ring attached to harness, cross and pellet-in-ring below. Scheers, SM -; De la Tour -; Ployart -; cf. Allen & Nash -; D&T 329. Good VF. Very rare. ($1000)

This recently published piece, attributed to an uncertain tribal group along the river Somme, is the prototype for the Atrebatic gold struck in southern England in the last half of the 1st century BC (cf. SCBC 48 and Van Arsdell 220ff). The one noticeable difference is the replacement of the simple cross on the reverse with a "cogwheel" or spoked wheel below the horse. A historically important transition piece demonstrating the close relationships between the Celtic tribes on either side of the English Channel.