Verica Stater: Sunken Tablet (obverse); Horse and Rider (reverse) (c. 10–40 CE): Art, History and Details

Verica Stater: Sunken Tablet (obverse); Horse and Rider (reverse) (c. 10–40 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Verica was the youngest son of Commius. He is identified as the Bericus whom the historian Sion Cassius refers to as being in exile, and appealing to Claudius for help. Commius was king of the Atrebates. When Caesar was planning his first visit to Britain, some Britons sent him envoys with offers of hostages and allegiance to Rome. Caesar received them favorably and retained no hostages but sent Commius and his high commissioner with instructions to persuade the Britons to ally themselves with Rome, and to expect Caesar in person in a few weeks time. This took place in 55 BC. It is therefore possible that Verica was either born fairly late in his father's life or that he was illegitimate. However that may be, his reign can with reasonable accuracy be placed as being in the first and second quarters of the first century AD.

Object facts

• Title: Verica Stater: Sunken Tablet (obverse); Horse and Rider (reverse)
• Date: c. 10–40 CE
• Culture: England
• Type: Coins
• Technique: gold
• Dimensions: Diameter: 1.7 cm (11/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Numismatics
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1969.146

A detail from the museum

Verica was king just before the conquest of Britain by the Romans.

Collection credit

The Norweb Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, and Emery May Norweb. English Gold Coins, Ancient to Modern Times, On Loan to the Cleveland Museum of Art from the Norweb Collection. 1968.
• Emery May Norweb Collection (Cleveland, Ohio), Emery May Norweb, C. E. Blunt, F. Elmore Jones, and R. P. Mack. Collection of Ancient British, Romano-British and English Coins. London: Spink, 1971.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.