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COIN
Unique ID: BERK-838D00
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Published 
A copper alloy coin, a bronze unit (struck on a cast flan) dating to the later Middle Iron Age of the Southern Gaul 'Massalia Bull MA' type (Cottam 2010 no. 115). This potin is interesting and does not appear to be a British "Thurrock" or "Kentish Primary" cast potin (as it appears), but a Gaulish import issued in the southern French port town of Marseilles, the issue later copied by the Kentish Cantiaci rulers. This is a rare find for Britain, and dates from c. 250 - 150 BC. Commenting on another similar find (ESS-5BFC67, recorded as CCI 10.0843), Ian Leins, Curator for Iron Age Coins at the British Museum comments 'This is a particularly interesting coin - not British, and perhaps not even technically Iron Age. It either belongs to the earliest phase of copying the bronze coinage of Marseille in the Paris basin (cf. Delestree & Tache type DT 147) or more likely, given the weight, style and method of manufacture, a genuine late issue of Marseille. If so, it was produced as early as the late 3rd or first half of the 2nd century BC. (For the likely series, see C. Brenot & S. Scheers, Catalogue des Monnaies Massalietes et Monnaies Celtiques du Musee des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Leuven (1996), p.35, series 7).
Find of note status
This is a find of note and has been designated: For inclusion in British Numismatic Journal ‘Coin Register’
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: IRON AGE
Subperiod from: Middle
Period from: IRON AGE
Subperiod to: Late
Period to: IRON AGE
Date from: Circa 250 BC
Date to: Circa 150 BC
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 18.3 mm
Thickness: 4 mm
Weight: 4.8 g
Diameter: 16.74 mm
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
Other reference: 2014.541
Materials and construction
Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Struck or hammered
Completeness: Complete
Coin data (numismatics)
Denomination: Potin (Cast bronze)
Tribe: Cantii
Ancient British Coins (ABC): 115
Obverse description: Head of Apollo, left, surrounded by beaded line
Obverse inscription: None
Reverse description: Bull butting right
Reverse inscription: MA
Die axis measurement: 10 o'clock
Degree of wear: Slightly worn: very fine
Status: Regular
Coin references
No coin references available.
Spatial metadata
Region: South East (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Oxfordshire (County)
District: Vale of White Horse (District)
Parish or ward: Drayton (Civil Parish)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: SU4894
Four figure Latitude: 51.64275976
Four figure longitude: -1.30772867
1:25K map: SU4894
1:10K map: SU49SE
Grid reference source: From a paper map
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 10 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Workflow: Awaiting validation
Timeline of associated dates
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