Are Iron Age coins rare in Wales?

This is an interesting find in Wales:

(Location of the Corieltavi tribe is East Britain)

My question is whether Iron Age coins are rare in Wales as stated in the article:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-66471319

 

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I just started collecting Celtic/Anglo-Saxon/English coins about 6 months ago, so I'm certainly no expert. But according to the research that I've done so far, Celtic tribes in the south started minting uninscribed coins (no indication of tribe or ruler) around 100 BC. The coins were of gold, silver, and sometimes a mixture of the two (electrum). We have no idea what they were called, but they were similar in size and weight to Greek coins so we've taken to calling them "Staters" (whole and fractions). These coins were minted until the invasions of Julius Caesar, after which the tribes started minting ruler inscribed coinage.

The tribes and locations that are thought to have participated in minting uninscribed coinage are underlined in red below. The tribes in Wales are not on the list, which is most likely inferred by the fact that these coins are not commonly found there (constitutes circular reasoning depending on which question you are trying to answer ). Various forms of "Iron Bar" money had been used by Celtic people on the island since around 200 BC or so, but I have no idea whether this form of currency was common among the tribes in what would become Wales (or if these things are commonly found there).

Doesn't directly address your question, but I hope there's something useful in there



Edit: I also hope that these coins turn up at auction soon....... I still need a Stater for my collection!!

Another Edit: Oh, nevermind. Read the rest of the article and it looks like they are going to a museum.

 

Yes. They are very rare in Wales because none of the local tribes issued any. Any coins that are found have travelled from other areas

 

Interesting answer! I know little of these, but I trust that you've got it right.

A good illustration that (1) "rarity" is not a single, fixed property of coin, and (2) recording findspots/hoard location is important.

There is a tendency to describe a coin as being either common, scarce, or rare (or some similar label). But rarity is not inherent in the coin, nor fixed. A coin may be of a very common type, but rare in some particular way, such as having been found in a particular unusual place. (There are other illustrations of the general principle; e.g., a coin that was once common may become the only known specimen of its "type" once a new die-study has been published.)

Praising the British system for recording new finds is unnecessary, but it's "how we know." Findspot (and its context) can give a coin's "object biography" much more general value. As in this case, it can really transform what the coin "is" (or, "is to" different audiences). It's no longer "(just another) Corieltavi Stater." Now it's "(one of the few) Celtic coins found in Wales" -- a much more interesting category of object.

Understanding coins and money is always about assigning categories and meanings -- from their production, to spending, to cataloging & collecting them. That meaning never derives from the physical object alone. "Object-biographical" information often allows for more freedom and depth in making those assignments.

 

According to another article, this is the first Iron Age gold hoard ever found in Wales:

"Alastair Willis, Senior Curator: Numismatics and the Welsh Economy, Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales, said in his report that the haul was the first collection of Iron Age gold coins ever to be found in Wales."

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/first-ever-iron-age-coins-27487960

As the op article states, individual finds in Wales are "rare".

 

I've been reading up on the Picts (Scotland ~ 300 to 900 AD), and was kind of semi-surprised (medieval people used coins!!!) that they were a pastoral, non-monetary economy, so they had no coins. They did hack up bits of silver which served as a sort of money. I guess the earlier Welsh tribes were similar.

 

I recently attended the British Numismatic Society conference where this question was discussed by a very good archaeologist/numismatist called Anni Byard. She presented a paper dealing with Iron age and Roman coin hoarding in north Wales and the Welsh marches (border region with England). In brief, yes - even accounting for finds which have gone unreported there are comparably few Iron Age coin finds from Wales, both as hoards and singly. But we cannot eliminate the possibility that many of the 'single' finds were not themselves deposited deliberately.

IIRC, her research noted that most of the Welsh finds tended towards coastal areas (including a recent hoard found on Anglesey) and largely were absent from the doubtlessly sparsely-populated, relatively mountainous/hilly interior with less land suitable for agriculture or large-scale settlement.

I believe the whole of Anni's lecture was uploaded online somewhere. I will see if I can dig it out and post here.