Corn-ear stater of Cunobelinus
c. AD 9–c. 40 ・ gold ・ 1st century ・ Camulodunum (present-day Colchester)
A gold stater struck for Cunobelinus, the greatest king of the tribal world, at his capital Camulodunum. On the face, an ear of corn and the legend CAMV; on the back, a prancing horse and the legend CVNO. The Roman historian Suetonius set him down as 'king of the Britons'. A king of the island cutting his own name and his city's name into gold in Latin letters — the grammar of coinage had arrived before Rome's conquest. It is also proof of the real existence of the king Shakespeare took as the subject of his play Cymbeline.