Sale: CNG 67, Lot: 7. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2004.  Sold For $300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CELTIC, Northern Gaul (Comata). Nervii. Circa 115-100 BC. AV Quarter Stater (1.70 gm). Gallo-Belgic B Type. Crossed Lines with Rider Type. Vertical line with diagonal lines at various angles / Disjointed driver guiding chariot left; "lyre" below and other patterns in fields D&T 94; Sheers 99; cf. De la Tour 8697; SCBC 9. CCI 98.1295. Fine. ($300)

In the early nineteenth century, Edward Davies claimed that the Druids used coelbreni or "omen sticks" for casting lots; as the sticks fell, so the diviner interpreted the fates. This theory was taken up by M. Lambeaux (Chris Rudd List 27, 1997, no. 14), and seemingly confirmed by the discovery of eight carefully positioned iron and bronze rods found in a Druid's grave at Stanway, near Cunobelin’s capital of Camulodunum, Essex. It is therefore possible that the apparently random crossed lines on the so-called "defaced die" staters and quarter staters are actually Druidic divining rods.