CELTIC, Atrebates & Regni. Verica. Circa AD 10-40. AV Stater (17mm, 5.38 g, 4h). Warrior (Atrebatic J) type. Cavella mint. Tablet inscribed COM · F / Warrior, preparing to hurl spear, on horse leaping right; lituus to lower left; VIR above, REX below. Allen & Haselgrove series C, 28-31 (dies H/g); Bean VERC2-1; Van Arsdell 500-1; ABC 1190; SCBC 120. CCI 11.1331 (this coin). Near EF, flan flaws.
From the 2011 Vine Leaf Hoard (PAS Ref. HAMP-6DFB33, this coin is no. 10).
The “Vine Leaf Hoard” of 105 gold staters, composed primarily of issues of Verica and Epillus, was found in Winter 2011-2 by metal detectorists near Chawton in Hampshire. Immediately, the finders declared the hoard to the proper authorities, who recorded it according to the Portable Antiquities Scheme and sent it to the British Museum to study. The hoard was declared Treasure Trove and offered to the museum, which already had similar hoards in their holdings and were unable to raise sufficient funds for the purchase. The coins were likely concealed around AD 42/3, during the unrest following the Catuvellaunian expansion into Atrebatic territory. After Epaticcus captured Verica’s capital at Calleva, the king fled to Rome, where he convinced Claudius to support his cause. These events directly led to the Roman conquest of Britain shortly in AD 43, around the time this hoard was buried.
