CELTIC, Britain. Catuvellauni & Trinovantes. Cunobelin. Circa 10-41 AD. AE Unit (2.38 gm). Sow Type. Helmeted Roman-style head right, CVNO BELINVS around, beaded border / Sow standing right, TASCIIOVANIIF around. Hobbs 1956-60; Van Arsdell 2091; SCBC 337. VF, olive patina. ($400)

Found East Anglia, circa Autumn 2001.

Comparing this helmet with the one on another Cunobelin bronze (VA 
1983), Derek Allen writes it is “an entirely different helmet, with 
animal-headed crest, a visor, and neckpiece, whose affinities seem 
Roman rather than British” (‘Belgic Coins as Illustrations of Life in 
the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age of Britain,’ Proceedings of the Prehistoric 
Society 24, 1958, pg. 53, pl. V, 36). Chris Rudd doubts that the helmet 
is copied from a Roman helmet, as he can not find a common Roman coin 
of the period which depicts this kind of helmet. He suspects that 
Cunobelin himself may have owned such a helmet and that the head on 
this bronze is his, as suggested by Sir J. Evans in 1864. 
A Roman cavalry helmet excavated near Market Harborough, 
Leics, in 2002, perhaps owned by a Corieltauvian prince, lends 
support to this hypothesis.

Used with permission of CNG (cngcoins.com).