This gold quarter stater, a tiny coin weighing barely a gram, is one of only two others known. It was struck by the Celtic Belgae who were centred on Venta Belgarum (modern Winchester) in Hampshire, and perhaps extending into Somerset and Avon.
John Sills, Celtic coin specialist, says: “The three known examples of this type are all struck from the same pair of dies, which normally indicates a very small issue.
"This is consistent with it being a small-scale local coinage, and its low mean weight suggests it’s quite late in the Hampshire uninscribed series and was most likely minted somewhere between 45-35BC.
“A relatively late date is in line with the imagery on both sides but especially on the obverse, where a variety of symbols are jumbled together, seemingly at random, on both sides of a highly stylised wreath. On the reverse it’s fair to say that whoever engraved the dies was in no doubt about the sex of the horse.”
It is priced at £4500.
