Whaddon Bird. c.55-45 BC. Silver unit. 14mm. 1.39g. Head left with coiled hair, ringed-pellet at nape of neck, small animal in front, ringed-pellets around./ Horse right, beaded mane, ring under head, bird above, beaded pellet below. ABC 2481, VA 1546, BMC 377-79, S 50. CCI 16.0144 (this coin). Near EF, toned silver, fabulous head, whole bird. An exquisite example, one of the finest we’ve had. Ex John Follows collection. Found near Haddenham, Bucks, 11 February 2015. VERY RARE type, only 22 others recorded, 11 of them chipped.

Having speculated that Follows’ Crested Head silver unit (ABC 1013, lot 13) might depict the goddess Brigit, we are now wondering if the deity on the obverse of the Whaddon Bird may also be Brigit. There are similarities quite apart from the rounded chin and braided hair. This Whaddon head also has a ringed arc crowning its cranium, like the arc on the Crested Head, like the arc on the silver unit of Esuprasto ‘chief priest of Esu’ (ABC 1711). There is also a small animal in front of the Whaddon head. And there is also a bird associated with the Whaddon deity – a quite remarkable bird flying or floating above the horse. It seems to have two ears. Or is that a crest or cockscomb? Sir John Evans (1864) says: “The bird is of an order unknown to naturalists of the present day, though allied to the heraldic martlets and the medieval birds of Paradise. It may have been intended for a mythical cock. We learn from Caesar that it was not lawful for the Britons to eat hares, poultry or geese, though they kept them for pleasure [BG 5.12]”. Cocks occur on several Ancient British coins (ABC 1010, 2012-21, 2321). So it is entirely possible that the Whaddon Bird is a stylised cock. The cock is a universal solar symbol because its crowing heralds the dawn. In Greek tradition the Cretan cock-god, Velchanos, was assimilated to Zeus. There was a cock standing by Leto when she gave birth to Apollo and Artemis, fathered by Zeus. Thus the bird was sacred to both Zeus and Leto and to Apollo and Artemis, in other words both to solar gods and to lunar goddesses. The cock was also an ancient symbol of rebirth. Follows’ Whaddon Bird is in uncommonly fine condition and one of the best we’ve had.