Gold ¼ Stater Irstead Trefoil / Irstead Trefoil Two Dots

Allen Type: British Nd.

Van Arsdell Classification: Icenian B, Early Uninscribed Gold Types, Later Freckenham Gold Types.

Chris Rudd (ABC) ‘Irstead Trefoil’.

Talbot Boar Horse B. The middle of the denominational period saw the introduction of back-to-back crescents. The Boar Horse B unit is the link between a period of stater hoarding and the end of Icenian coinage. It was struck at Mint A, which was responsible for most gold and used the most dies, characterised by a horse with an open head. Boar Horse B and Boar Horse B (A) were produced at separate workshops, with the latter focused on the east. The horse’s head changes from an open 8-shape to a pellet-and-arc, with Boar Horse B (A) only using the later style. The Boar Horse quarter has an obverse die almost identical to Dubnovellaunos’s Trefoil (ABC 2395), which is where the trefoil comes from. The stepping horse also comes from Dubnovellaunos’s and Catuvellaunian coinage (see ABC 321). These similarities probably had political significance.

Talbot Chronology: Gallo-Belgic E/Ingoldisthorpe - Early Local Period I (55BC-35BC) - Early Local Period II (35BC-15BC) - Denominational Period I (15BC-5: Snettisham - Plouviez - Irstead - Early Boar Horse) - Denominational Period II (5-25: Boar Horse B - Boar Horse C) - Denominational Period III (25-45).

Cottam and Rudd list one type:
COI 59 (ABC 1474) - Irstead Trefoil Two Dots (8 known).

Cottam and Rudd Chronology: Gallic War Unity (55-50BC) - Post-War Austerity (50-35BC) - Peaceful Prosperity (35BC-20) - Client-State Conformity (20-47) - Claudian Regality (43-47).

See also Irstead Trefoil One Dot (COI 53).