Cunobelinus (Togodumnus?) Left Type. Sills class 8, Classic B, dies 84/144. c.AD 42-43. Gold stater. 16mm. 5.45g. Ear of barley with central stalk and scroll at base, [C]A to left, MV to right./ Classic style horse left, floral motif above, CVNO below on exergual line, beaded border. ABC 2804, VA 2029, BMC 1834-35, DK 571, S 289. CCI 96.1333 (this coin). Brilliant EF, golden gold, stunning horse, full floral motif and CVNO. A great beauty as well as a great rarity. Ex John Follows collection, ex Gary Leeke collection. Ex Somerton hoard, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk 1990. VERY RARE type, only 19 others recorded EXTREMELY RARE dies, only ten others recorded including four in museums

To have one extremely fine Left Type stater in your collection is marvellous; to have two is bordering on the miraculous. In presenting John Follows second EF Left Type to you (the first sold for £8,500) we’ll be more assertive in stating our belief that it was probably issued shortly after the death of Cunobelinus by the historical Togodumnus whom we believe to be one and the same person as the DVBN named on gold quarter staters, ABC 3008 (see Rainer Kretz, A new take on Togodumnus, Chris Rudd List 86, 2006, p.2-4, and Dr John Sills’ comments on Dubn in Divided Kingdoms, Chris Rudd 2017, p.760-762). Togodumnus is known solely from Cassius Dio who says he was a son of Cunobelinus – the son who led the initial resistance with Caratacus to the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43. That such an important prince did not issue any coins seems utterly inconceivable to us, especially when Caratacus, Amminus and other suspected brothers – Agr and Solidu – clearly did. The recent discovery of a Caratacus gold stater now makes it even more likely, in our opinion, that it was Togodumnus (aka Dubn) who struck the Left Type stater. We believe that it was Togodumnus (aka Dubn) who inherited the Catuvellaunian kingdom of Cunobelinus, not Caratacus, who had to take 2nd prize, the Atrebatic kingdom of Verica (3rd prize, Kent, had already been won by Solidu). Follows’ second Left Type has two plusses the first hadn’t: it displays the full CVNO and it comes from a well known, well documented Treasure hoard. Published in Coin Hoards in Iron Age Britain, p.376, no. 31 (this coin) and Divided Kingdoms, pp.665 and 687 (this coin).