Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXV 22-23 Sep 2022
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Northeast Gaul, the Ambiani AV Stater. Gallic War uniface type. Circa 56-55 BC. Plain / Devolved horse to right; pellet triad and 'charioteer's arms' above, crescent and pellet below, exergual line with crescents and pellets below. D&T 241; cf. LT 8704, 8707, 8710 (reverse detail variants); ABC 16; Van Arsdell 56-1. 6.33g, 18mm.
Mint State.
Acquired from Dr. Busso Peus Nachfolger.
These staters were issued by the coalition of Gallic tribes to fund the war against Julius Caesar in Gaul. The Ambiani themselves, to whom these issues are attributed, occupied the Somme valley area and were said to have fielded ten thousand warriors against Caesar. Their chief town Samarobriva, afterwards called Ambiani and Civitas Ambianensium, is thought to have been on the site of modern-day Amiens.
The blank obverse of these coins is usually assumed to be an indication of the vast quantity that were struck and the haste in which they were made. However on this example faint traces of an underlying design can be seen on the obverse. Whether this suggests that a few of these staters were struck on both sides, whilst the majority remained blank, or that the original dies wore to down to blank as we can see here the design has barely registered, is uncertain.
Mint State.
Acquired from Dr. Busso Peus Nachfolger.
These staters were issued by the coalition of Gallic tribes to fund the war against Julius Caesar in Gaul. The Ambiani themselves, to whom these issues are attributed, occupied the Somme valley area and were said to have fielded ten thousand warriors against Caesar. Their chief town Samarobriva, afterwards called Ambiani and Civitas Ambianensium, is thought to have been on the site of modern-day Amiens.
The blank obverse of these coins is usually assumed to be an indication of the vast quantity that were struck and the haste in which they were made. However on this example faint traces of an underlying design can be seen on the obverse. Whether this suggests that a few of these staters were struck on both sides, whilst the majority remained blank, or that the original dies wore to down to blank as we can see here the design has barely registered, is uncertain.