Celtic Celebs Earn More

Judging from the results of Chris Rudd’s latest Celtic auction (Norwich, May, 14 2023), it appears that Celtic coins with some claim to celebrity status, however slight, sell better than lesser known specimens of comparable quality and scarcity.

For example, a North East Coast gold stater of the Corieltauvi, once owned by the war hero Henry Mossop DFC (1919-1988) – see ‘The Flying Farmer’, Coin News, November 1991 – realised £2400 (a record price for the type); a comparatively common Uniface Tree gold quarter stater of the Morini (‘Sea People’), formerly in the John Follows collection (Coin News, March 2020) and reportedly associated with the Druids, fetched £1600 (three times the estimate and a world record for the type); a Sussex Lyre silver unit of the Regini, which came from the Arundel hoard, West Sussex, 1994, and which, according to Chris Rudd, probably features the head of Trisantona (‘Great Wanderer’ or ‘Strong Flooder’), the goddess who gave her name to the River Arundel (see ‘Trisantona and her Celtic gold hoards’, Coin News, January 2023), achieved a record price of £950; and a Berkshire Boars silver unit, apparently unique and with an unusually precise provenance – “found by Lee Fox near Ogbourne St George, Wiltshire, at 11:00am, 4 February 2023” (see Coin News, May 2023) – realised £4600 (more than 50 percent above estimate).

Elizabeth Cottam, director of Chris Rudd Ltd, comments: “Though gold and silver Celtic coins understandably attract higher prices, the mantle of minor celebrity is sometimes worn to the profit of coins of baser metal. For example, in our May sale a common bronze coin of Cunobelin from The Royal Berkshire collection sold for a surprising £600; a cast potin unit of the Cantiaci from the fabulous John Follows collection went for £550 – five times the average book price; and a humble cast bronze unit from the celebrated collection of Commander Richard Paston Mack (1901-1974) fetched £850 – nearly seven times the normal book price; of course, it also had the advantage of coming from the famous Holdenhurst hoard, Hampshire, found in 1905 by ‘Mr Kilmester while ferreting’, and of being published in several well-known reference books. I also think it’s significant that almost all the coins that got top prices in our May sale had previously been registered with the Celtic Coin Index at the Institute of Archaeology, Oxford, one of them over fifty years ago. I believe that bidders bid with extra confidence when they know that a Celtic coin has been responsibly reported and properly recorded.”

The next Chris Rudd sale will be held in Norwich July 16, 2023. For more information contact Chris Rudd, tel: (44) 1263 735 007, email: liz@celticcoins.com