Sale: Triton VII, Lot: 1233. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Monday, 12 January 2004.  Sold For $450. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CELTIC ENGLAND. Catuvellauni in Hertfordshire. Tasciovanos. Circa 20 BC-10 AD. AE Unit (2.36 gm). Two quadrilaterals forming eight-pointed star with central pellet in ring, corded border / Bull right; crescent above, pellet before. Hobbs 1752-55; Van Arsdell 1810-1; SCBC 248. CCI 03.0416. Good VF, attractive olive green patina. Very rare. ($200)

From the Cotswold Collection.

Seven examples of the Tasciovanos Star bronze unit were recovered from the excavations at Harlow Temple in the late 1980s. Three were analysed by Philip Clogg and Colin Haselgrove (Oxford Journal of Archaeology 14 (1995), pp. 41-62), who noted that this type showed one of the widest ranges of alloy among the bronze coins they examined: between 82% and 96% copper, with 4 ­ 10% tin and in one case 6% lead and more than 2% silver. They all lack any trace of zinc, suggesting that­unlike some other Tasciovanos types­they were not produced using brass coins or objects imported from Gaul; instead the relatively wide range of alloy may simply reveal the difficulty of obtaining a consistent supply of the raw materials for the coinage.