Durotriges Cranborne Chase Silver Stater (5.17g)

Description

Click here to see a video of this coin. Durotriges Cranborne Chase silver stater. 5.17g, 19.13mm. ABC 2157

A nicely dished flan with dark fields and bright devices. The obverse centring shows the hairlocks in full and the reverse shows a substantial portion of the three tail lines. All 12 and a third pellets above the horse are present, and are deeply and boldly struck.

The meaning of the reverse design is unclear, but Dr. Daphne Nash Briggs proposed that it is related to the ancient belief that the sun was pulled across the heavens every day in a chariot, returning every night on the ocean. She notes that:

1. The coins are silver rather than gold, representing the moon rather than the sun
2. The horse faces left (east) which is the direction it would travel at night
3. The horse looks tired, droopy, and appears to have a nose bag
4. The horse appears to have a dim sun-like disc below it

The horse has twelve moons on its back plus a smaller object about one third their size. There are twelve and one third lunar months in a year.