Celtic Danebury dragon type; below a short description
AR Quarter unit. 

Obv: Dragon (or serpent) left, with its head turned back
Rev: horse. 

Van Arsdell 286; Spink 58; BMC 631-633.

Description by the Celtic coin expert, Mr De Jersey:

This is quite a rare coin – there are only nine examples in 
the online CCI_VA_286 – other references would be Spink’s 
‘Coins of England’ 58, and BMC 631-633. 

Most recorded examples are from around Danebury hill-fort in 
Hampshire and it’s not impossible that it was actually 
manufactured there, although there is no clear evidence one way 
or the other. It’s probably quite early, perhaps around 50 BC, 
and is among a group of so-called Danebury types which are 
sometimes attributed to the Belgae, who occupied this area in 
the mid first century. 

Chris Rudd calls the type the ‘Danebury Dragon’ because there 
is a sort of dragon on the obverse with its head turned back 
(just heading off the edge of the flan of the coin).

Submitted by Andy Muller, Jan. 2010