Prehistoric — Middle - Late Iron Age; 300 BCE - 50 CE
Currency bar
A Late Iron Age sword-shaped iron ingot or 'currency bar' of standard size and weight dating 300 BCE - 50 CE.. The bar is tapered, with the blunt end flanged, chipped at the end and slightly burnt.
Currency bars appear to have been used as a form of trade iron in Middle to Late Iron Age in Southern Britain. During Caesar's raids in 55 and 54 BCE he wrote "They use either gold or bronze coinage or, instead of coinage, iron bars weighed out precisely." (Caesar’s Gallic War, 5.12). Some currency bars ave also been found deliberately buried in significant boundary places such as within enclosure dtiches, this example was found in the Thames which also follows this pattern.
- Category:
- Prehistoric
- Object ID:
- A20985
- Object name:
- currency bar
- Object type:
- Artist/Maker:
- —
- Related people:
- Related events:
- Related places:
- Production date:
- Middle - Late Iron Age; 300 BCE - 50 CE
- Material:
iron
- Measurements/duration:
- L 745 mm, W 39 mm, T 20 mm (overall)
- Part of:
- —
- On display:
- —
- Record quality:
- 100%
- Part of this object:
- —
- Owner Status & Credit:
Permanent collection
- Copyright holder:
digital image © London Museum
- Image credit:
- —
- Creative commons usage:
- —
- License this image:
To license this image for commercial use, please contact the London Museum Picture Library.