30-32 BC Celtic gold East Wiltshire Savernake Wheel Type Quarter Stater

Item Description

30-32 BC Celtic gold East Wiltshire Savernake Wheel Type Quarter Stater, found in Royal Wootton Bassett (ABC 2101). Obverse: wreath and abstract hair with crescents below. Reverse: belted horse right with six spoked wheel below, three annulets dispersed in the fields - very clear strike. Very rare: one of only seven known examples. Excavated locally to RWB Auctions and published The Searcher. Weight: 1.22g. Diameter: 10mm.

Dated to the late 1st century BC, this East Wiltshire 'Savernake Wheel' type Quarter Stater is one of only seven known examples. The tiny Celtic gold coin, weighing just 1.22 grams, was found by a metal detectorist within a couple of miles of Royal Wootton Bassett.

Like many early British coins, this example features abstract designs and no writing. One side shows markings that historians interpret as a wreath and crescents, while the other shows the body of a horse with a six-spoked 'sun-wheel' beneath. Sun wheels are said to symbolise the sun's diurnal journey across the sky, while the horse indicates the important role these animals played among Celtic peoples.