Sale: CNG 66, Lot: 50. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 19 May 2004.  Sold For $300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CELTIC, Britain. Catuvellauni & Trinovantes. Cunobelin. Circa 10-41 AD. AE Unit (2.37 gm). Metal Worker Type. Winged head left, CVNO in front, BELIN behind / Metal worker seated right, hammering vase, TASCIO behind, beaded border. Hobbs 1972-83; Van Arsdell 2097; SCBC 342. VF, dark patina, well centered. ($300)

Found Norfolk, 2003.

D. Allen says the figure on the reverse of this Cunobelin bronze is “presumably the smith god, known as Sucellus in parts of Gaul…sitting on a solid seat with a detached upright back, holding an L-shaped hammer in his right hand, while in his left he holds a metal bowl, the shape of which is almost identical with the diminutive silver cups of the same period from Welwyn, especially in the form of base and rim. There is always a distinct bun of hair behind the smith’s head” (Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 24, 1958, pg. 59); cf. the T-shaped hammer among the moneyer’s tools on the Roman Republican denarius of T. Carisius, Rome, 46 BC (Crawford 464/2).