Sale: CNG 66, Lot: 29. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 19 May 2004.  Sold For $1600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CELTIC, Britain. Catuvellauni. Tasciovanos. Circa 20 BC-10 AD. AV Stater (5.39 gm). Celtic Warrior Type. Crossed-wreath motif with two opposed crescents and four-ringed pellets at centre, forming hidden faces / Celtic warrior on horse right, wearing rimmed helmet and holding a war trumpet aloft, wheel behind, [T]ASC and pellets around. Hobbs 1620-22; Van Arsdell 1730-5; SCBC 217. Good VF, rose gold, neat cavalryman, well ornamented. ($2000)

Diodorus Siculus tells us that Celtic “trumpets are again of a peculiar barbaric kind…and produce a harsh sound which suits the tumult of war.” The broad flan of this beautiful gold stater of Tasciovanos reveals the long tube of such a trumpet held aloft in the right hand of the Celtic cavalryman.