Sale: Triton VII, Lot: 1232. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Monday, 12 January 2004.  Sold For $1200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CELTIC ENGLAND. Catuvellauni in Hertfordshire. Tasciovanos "Ricon". Circa 20 BC-10 AD. AV Stater (5.53 gm). TASCIO RICON in tablet on vertical wreath with two hidden faces / Cavalryman galloping left, wielding sword and shield; ring below. Hobbs 1629/1635; Van Arsdell 1780 var.; SCBC 219. CCI 03.0414. EF, yellow gold, worn reverse die with scuff marks. Extremely rare variant with ring below horse, only two others recorded. [See color enlargement on plate 22] ($2000)

Found near Buntingford, Herts., 2000.

The eagle-eyed reader will immediately realise that there are two ­ yes, two ­ Celtic hidden faces on this astonishingly well preserved gold stater of King Tasciovanos, father of the celebrated King Cunobelin. One of the cunningly concealed faces is almost completely revealed to the right of the royal box; the other remains hidden on the other side of it.

Rainer Kretz says: ‘This is a fine example of a ‘RICON’ stater, a series most probably produced in one short burst of activity towards the end of Tasciovanos’ reign around the turn of the last millennium (circa 5 BC - 5 AD). There can be little doubt that the design’s aim was overwhelmingly one of propaganda, with Tasciovanos informing his contemporaries that he was not just ruler of the Catuvellauni but now ‘supreme king’ (Rigon or Ricon) — perhaps a reference to recently having rid himself of Andoco who seems to have ruled a portion of the Catuvellaunian territories centred on Baldock (Herts.). This stater was struck around the middle of the production run and is unusual in being only the third stater on record to combine the TASCIO RICON obverse with my Rev. Type IV. This particular reverse type is the most simplified and therefore thought to come last in the series. Only two other staters are recorded with this die combination (Obv. die F / Rev. die no.10), both coincidentally also sold by Chris Rudd (FPL 56, no. 63 and list 25, no. 45). The frequency and range of the die linkages across both obverse and reverse indicate that much of the RICON series was in production more or less simultaneously but we can only guess at the reasons for striking huge quantities of gold staters within a very short space of time. A careful examination of the obverse legend shows that this particular die was originally engraved TASOIO, before the die cutter noticed his mistake and recut the O as a C. This intriguing detail is more obvious on the other two examples. It may look at first sight as if this is a variant of VA 1780-5 due to having a ring rather than a ringed pellet below the horse, but I believe that both coins were most probably struck from the same reverse die and that any differences are purely the result of wear. What now looks like a ring, actually started life as a central pellet within a beaded circle. There are many examples of Ricon staters struck from worn reverse dies and this in turn results in ‘soft’ images lacking some of the detail of the original design. Interestingly all three examples from these dies, which may conceivably form part of the same batch, weigh between 5.50g and 5.53g, an indication of just how skilled the Celtic moneyers were at controlling the weight of their gold staters.’ For more information see The ‘RICON’ Staters of Tasciovanos in NumCirc, June 2000. Another, more common variety of this stater has a ring in front of the horseman. Its absence on this coin may also be due to die wear.