Celtic Coinage in Britain

Book excerpt: In the space of little more than a hundred years, from the Roman conquest of Gaul in the mid first century BC to the defeat of Boudicca in AD 61, Britain saw the final and arguably the most impressive phase in the development of Celtic coinage. The coins are not only beautiful and attractive in their own right, but also extraordinarily useful evidence in our attempts to understand Celtic society at this period. This book provides a general introduction to Celtic coinage in Britain. It analyses how and why the coins were made, describing the most significant types and many of the more obscure varieties, and explaining how the coins and the images they carry can reveal information on the political, economic and social life of the Celts. The book is fully illustrated with some of the best examples of Celtic coinage and provides details of museums where coins can be seen, as well as suggestions for more detailed reading.