One of the most recent acquisitions made by the Department ofCoins and Medals is a highly unusual object - an ancient punch or'die' used to manufacture coins in the second century BC. The diewas found in Bredgar, Kent by a metal detector user in 2013 andis being used to shed new light on when the first coins were madein Britain.

The earliest coins found in Iron Age Britain date from aroundthe second century BC and, until recently, it was believed thatthey were produced in Gaul (a region roughly equivalent to modernday France and Belgium) and imported into south-east England.These coins, known as Gallo Belgic A, were based on the goldcoinage (staters) issued by King Philip II, ruler of the Greekkingdom of Macedon from 359 - 336 BC and father of Alexander theGreat.

Philip's coin shows a representation of the god Apollo on oneside and a chariot drawn by two horses on the other. Iron Agecoins derived from these staters carry abstract versions of theseimages. The hair and laurel wreath on the image of Apollo, forexample, are much exaggerated. Similarly, the image of the horseon the reverse of the coin has been stylised and is reminiscentof the Prehistoric chalk horses found on the hillsides ofBritain, such as the one at Uffington.

Close examination of the coin die revealed that it was used inthe production of the early Gallo-Belgic A coins. What this meansis that, although it is the third Iron Age coin die to be foundin the UK (the others are also in the British Museum), it isalmost certainly the earliest. The most significant aspect ofthis discovery is the fact that it is a British find. This raisesthe intriguing possibility that the earliest known coins fromBritain were actually made here and not just imports from theContinent.

Around 250 Gallo-Belgic A coins are known from Britain andFrance, but unfortunately the new die cannot be linked to any ofthem. This fact has been used to suggest that it may have been aforger's die. In reality, however, we can read very little intothe fact that we do not have an example of a coin struck usingthis die.

Little is known about the mechanics of coin production in theIron Age and, in particular, about the authorities that producedthem. The distinction between an 'official' and a 'forger's' diemay not be have been relevant in Iron Age society. A programme ofscientific analysis will tell us more about how the die was madeand used, but its precise origins are likely to remain a mystery.The die is on display in the Citi Money Gallery.

To read the complete article, see: The die that struck Britain's first coins?(blog.britishmuseum.org/2014/04/11/the-die-that-struck-britains-first-coins/)