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Base silver 'stater'

Contributed by La Societe Sercquaise

Base silver 'stater'

This recently excavated coin represents the nearest thing to a 'local' currency in Guernsey and Sark in the first century BC, though it was manufactured in the region of Bayeux, principal city of the Baiocasses (one of the Celtica tribes) in Normandy. The reverse shows reined horse, stylised in segments so characteristic of the Celtic tribes, galloping to the right. Roman and 'Celtic' coins have been found hoarded on the Atlantic coast, in Jersey and in Sark ( the 'Sark Hoard' of ornamental Dacian silver and some Gaulish coins in an urn was unearthed in 1719 but disappeared soon afterwards). Refugees from Caesar's Gallic Wars in mid-first century BC and Roman soldiers on the move along a major trade route between the Cotentin and southern Britain would have found Sark an amenable sanctuary for their portable wealth.

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Location

Bayeux, Normandy

Culture
Period
Theme
Size
W:
1.8cm
Colour
Material

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