Historical Context

During the Late British Iron Age, spanning the first century BCE through the Claudian invasion of 43 CE, the polity conventionally identified as the Dobunni occupied the Severn Basin, the Cotswold uplands, and adjoining districts of modern Gloucestershire, Somerset, western Wiltshire, and Worcestershire. In contrast to southeastern polities such as the Trinovantes and Catuvellauni, which progressively integrated classical Augustan motifs and Latinized political formulas, western British communities maintained an insular visual repertoire grounded in heavily abstracted derivations of Philip II of Macedon's gold staters.

The inscribed phase of Dobunnic coinage emerged toward the late first century BCE or early first century CE. Spatial distributions demonstrate an apparent regional polarity in findspots across the territory: coinages bearing the name Bodvoc cluster predominantly across northern districts in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, whereas staters naming Corio predominate across southern settlements in Somerset, Avon, and Wiltshire. Following Corio, scarcer issues inscribed Comux and Catti entered circulation. The presence of Catti staters in structured deposits, notably within the Nunney hoard in Somerset and the Pershore hoards in Worcestershire, anchors Catti within this regional dynastic succession alongside or shortly preceding the broader regional coinages of Anted and Eisv.

Obverse Iconographic Composition

The obverse composition displays a prominent, vertically aligned branched device set in raised relief across an otherwise plain, convex field. The emblem comprises a straight central vertical stalk flanked by symmetrically arranged lateral linear boughs pointing diagonally upward and outward, terminated by an apical finial. In standard executions, five pairs of lateral branches (totaling ten side boughs) emerge from the central stem. The base of the vertical stalk terminates upon a single raised pellet.

Early antiquarian literature interpreted this device alternately as an ear of corn or barley, a stylized palm frond, or a fern leaf. However, rigorous comparative typological seriation demonstrates that the emblem represents the culmination of an insular, highly schematized evolutionary sequence. The motif descends directly from the laurel wreath gracing Apollo's head on Macedonian staters, mediated through continental Gaulish and early British prototypes, gradually reduced across successive generations of die-cutters into a distinctive regional emblem.

Obverse Epigraphy and Inscriptions

The obverse die is entirely anepigraphic. No letters, monograms, ligatures, or ancillary administrative signs occur on this face, maintaining an unadorned field around the central branched emblem.

Reverse Iconographic Composition

The reverse die presents a Celticized, disjointed horse prancing or galloping toward the right across a distinctly concave flan. The equine anatomy is assembled from abstracted curvilinear units: crescentic chest and flank segments, globular joint articulations punctuated by raised pellets, and an elongated, bifurcated muzzle. A hallmark characteristic of the Western British series is the horse's triple tail, delineated as three individual undulating linear strands each terminating in a pellet.

Beneath the horse sits a circular six-spoked wheel, an iconographic survival of the biga chariot wheel featured on the Hellenistic prototypes. The surrounding reverse field incorporates scattered pellet motifs and curvilinear accents. Across the exergual zone beneath the wheel, the lower border is demarcated by a straight, continuous horizontal row of raised beads or pellets.

Reverse Epigraphy and Inscriptions

The reverse inscription is executed in formal Latin capital lettering and represents a Celtic personal name rendered in Brittonic:

  • Script: Latin capital lettering.
  • Original Lettering: CATTI
  • Transliteration: CATTI
  • Placement: Positioned horizontally across the upper reverse field, directly above the horse's back.
  • English Translation: "(Coin of) Catti" or "(Belonging to) Catti".

Philological analysis identifies the legend as an abbreviated masculine personal anthroponym derived from Common Celtic *katu-, meaning "battle", "combatant", or "warrior". This element is widely attested in Continental and Insular Celtic nomenclature, including names such as Catuvolcus, Catualos, and Cattios. Antiquarian attempts to correlate the legend with the Cassi mentioned by Julius Caesar or the Germanic Chatti are linguistically unfounded and unsupported by regional archaeological distributions.

Typology and Documented Variants

The Catti series is typologically defined by the inscribed gold stater and contemporary imitative issues:

  1. Standard Inscribed Gold Stater (ABC 2057; VA 1130; BMC 3057–3060; Mack 391; Spink 384):
    Obverse: Symmetrical branched tree-like emblem with five pairs of lateral branches and basal pellet on a plain convex field.
    Reverse: Disjointed horse right with three-strand tail; six-spoked wheel below; beaded exergue line; legend CATTI in upper field.
    Metrological Profile (Comparison Data): Struck in base gold or electrum. Documented weights for preserved museum specimens typically range between 5.10 g and 5.55 g (for example, Cleveland Museum of Art 1969.154 at 5.50 g, British Museum 1919,0213.246 at 5.37 g, and American Numismatic Society 1944.100.78456 at 5.28 g), with flan diameters between 18 mm and 20.5 mm.
    Alloy Composition (Comparison Data): Scientific assays conducted by the British Museum Research Laboratory on specimens from the Nunney hoard reveal substantial debasement: gold 41–42%, silver 10–16%, and copper 43–48%, with specific gravities clustering between 11.2 and 11.6.

  2. Ancient Contemporary Plated Copies / Fourrées (cf. ABC 2057; PAS HESH-C2D524; PAS CORN-D3AF7A):
    Contemporary ancient forgeries produced to circulate alongside debased official issues. These specimens feature a base copper-alloy core enveloped within a thin gold foil or leaf, struck from dies imitating the authentic tree and horse motifs. They must be distinguished from modern counterfeits.

  3. Absence of Inscribed Fractional Silver Units:
    While contemporary or proximate western rulers such as Bodvoc, Anted, and Eisv produced substantial series of inscribed silver units, no authenticated fractional silver issues inscribed CATTI are recorded in museum holdings or the Portable Antiquities Scheme database. Uninscribed Western silver units circulating during the period likely supplied regional fractional currency.

Scholarly Debates and Attribution Limitations

Three primary debates dominate the numismatic study of Catti:

  1. Chronological Horizon: Robert Van Arsdell assigned Catti to his regional Phase G, dating the issue very late in the pre-conquest sequence to c. 20–45 CE. This dating is followed by several museum catalogues and online repositories. Conversely, modern stratigraphic and hoard analyses—specifically the contextual sequence of the Pershore deposits studied by Derek Hurst and Ian Leins—indicate that Catti staters circulated alongside Corio and Comux, prior to the large-scale output of Anted. Consequently, newer typological syntheses favor an earlier chronological placement of c. 1–20 CE.

  2. Territorial Partition versus Sequential Rule: Derek Allen and Lyn Sellwood proposed that the Dobunnic territory was politically divided into northern and southern realms, suggesting Catti operated as a southern dynast following Corio while Bodvoc ruled the northern Cotswolds. Other authorities, including John Sills, emphasize chronological succession rather than geographical division, interpreting Comux and Catti as short-reigned rulers presiding over a single, progressively developing administrative entity before the reigns of Anted and Eisv.

  3. Curatorial Metadata Discrepancies: Online public records occasionally suffer from cataloging errors. For example, in the Cleveland Museum of Art digital catalogue entry for stater 1969.154, the image files are inverted: asset file 1969.154.a (labeled obverse) illustrates the reverse horse and CATTI legend, whereas asset file 1969.154.b (labeled reverse) illustrates the obverse branched device. Researchers must establish physical die orientation based on iconographic criteria rather than automated curatorial tags.

References

  1. Catti Stater: Tree Symbol on Plain Field (obverse); Horse and Wheel (reverse) (Accession 1969.154). Cleveland Museum of Art object record, Norweb Collection
  2. ABC 2057 Type Record: Inscribed Gold Stater of Catti. Iron Age Coins in Britain (IACB), Oxford Institute of Archaeology
  3. Gold Stater - Catti (Tree) - Dobunni Tribe (Numista 128719). Numista type entry N# 128719
  4. British Museum Collection Record: 1919,0213.246 (Nunney Hoard). British Museum, Department of Coins and Medals, registration 1919,0213.246
  5. The Pershore Hoards and Votive Deposition in the Iron Age. Hurst, Derek, and Ian Leins. 2013. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 79: 297–325
  6. Coin Register 2014, Entry 6 (PAS HESH-C2D524). British Numismatic Society Coin Register 2014, p. 239, entry 6
  7. Portable Antiquities Scheme Record: HESH-C2D524. PAS database record HESH-C2D524, contemporary plated stater from Shropshire
  8. The Coins of the Ancient Britons. Evans, Sir John. 1864. London: J. Russell Smith, Plate I, No. 4, p. 139 (Further reading)
  9. British Iron Age Coins in the British Museum. Hobbs, Richard. 1996. London: British Museum Press, p. 170 (Further reading)