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Icenian silver coin with a previously unknown die stamp – another first for PCA

By News, Recent Finds

We’ve had an amazing find this week from a site in Suffolk

The coin is an Icenian Bury E type silver unit, of which Talbot (2017) records only 4 known examples. The reverse die of this coin (the side with the horse) is known on three of them, two of which are sub-classified by Cottam and Rudd (2022) as type 30, and the other with this die is a type 31. The remaining Bury E type has a similar (but different) reverse die and is sub-classified by Cottam and Rudd (2022) as type 29. This new coin appears to represent the fourth recorded example of that particular reverse die.

However, the obverse die on this new coin is completely unrecorded, showing a right facing bust (usually thought to be a god) with a two-headed snake in an S-shape in front. This is a different style to the other Bury E types, which usually have ‘roundels’ in front and around the bust. The double-headed snake designs are only really seen on the Bury A and H types, which Cottam and Rudd date c.55-50 BC, while the Bury E types are dated c.40-35 BC, so this coin might potentially require a slight re-think on the dating sequence of those coins.

FRONTIER PERSPECTIVES TALKS SERIES

By News

Katie Mountain from PCA Durham will be giving a talk on 19 March, along with her co-editor Marta Alberti (Vindolanda Trust), on their forthcoming publication on managing Hadrian’s Wall as a cultural resource in 2022. The publication will be out in the next few months – both in print and Open Access.

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