UNCERTAIN. Circa 1100-500 BC. 'Ring Money' (Electrum, 18 mm, 8.66 g). Cf. Obolos 12 (2019), 134 (lighter weight). Very fine.


Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age gold and electrum objects such as this one have been found in various forms and shapes, most notably in the form of rings. They probably both served as personal adornments and as a form of 'proto-money' used in trade and are often attributed to the British Isles, although such rings are in fact attested across all of Celtic Europe. This is an unusually heavy example, made from a single shaft of electrum with thick complementary endings weighing 8.66 g.