CELTIC, Atrebates & Regni. Verica. Circa AD 10-40. AV Stater (17mm, 5.37 g, 3h). Vine leaf (Atrebatic K) type. Southern mint. Vine leaf; VI to left, [RI] to right / Warrior with spear and shield on back, on horse leaping right between two platforms; C O F around. Allen & Haselgrove Series D, 86-9 (dies H/n); Bean VERS3-1b; Van Arsdell 520-1; ABC 1193; SCBC 121. CCI 11.1411 (this coin); Van Arsdell, "Clashed Dies and the Organization of Verica’s Mint," in
NumCirc, November 1994, pp. 402-3. Good VF, deposit on reverse. Struck from a dramatically clashed obverse die.
From the 2011 Vine Leaf Hoard (PAS Ref. HAMP-6DFB33, this coin is no. 90).
The presence of the die clash on the obverse is a feature not seen on dies o and p, while examples from unclashed dies are known reverses n, o, and p. Van Arsdell proposes the sequence of minting thus: 1) A moneyer strikes coins from dies H/n and returns them to a box or central location. 2) Obverse die H was clashed with an uncertain reverse die that was apparently severely damaged and discarded immediately. 3) The mint worker takes out reverse die n and strikes the present coin. To this we can add that the present coin was presumably the last struck in the series, as reverse die n does not appear to be known paired with other obverses.
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.
