Collection of coins from 200 years of Celtic British history available to view online

A collection of coins from more than 200 years of Celtic British history is now available to view online.

The last time the 200 coins held in The Hunterian, the University of Glasgow’s museum,  were catalogued in any form was nearly 120 years ago.

Now thanks to the efforts of a group of student volunteers studying at the university coins from different British tribes and featuring a range of designs have been digitally catalogued.

‘These coins haven’t been properly catalogued in a modern sense, and now we’ve got over 200 coins from over 200 years of Celtic British history available on our database worldwide to anyone who wants to look at them,’ said Jesper Ericsson, Curator of Numismatics.

‘The last time they were catalogued in any form was in a paper format in 1905, so over a century later, we’ve finally got them online. 

‘They’re going to be really useful for researchers, for students, for teaching sessions from now on. And that’s all down to the volunteers.

‘Each of the three student volunteers were all given a different British Celtic tribe to look at and to work out what the coinage was and catalogue it. They all did a brilliant job.

‘What I found most interesting, going through their work and being with them and talking to them, is the range of designs on the coins, because Celtic coins themselves can be absolutely mad. 

‘We’re looking at a coin and we have no idea what we’re looking at then you look at the description but you still have no idea what you’re looking at. 

‘But the more you handle them and the more you look at them, you see just how clever and imaginative the designs are. 

‘For me my favourite part of the project was getting to know the coins better.’

The coins show a range of images, like horses, boars, bulls, and eagles. 

Others feature depictions of warriors, mythological creatures, or intricate geometric patterns. 

Maksymilian Wojcik one of the student volunteers, said: ‘When it comes to working with the coins, I feel like it’s almost like detective work. 

‘We start with a tray of coins and we need to find them in the published catalogues and books. 

‘Then we weigh them and measure them, describing what is on both sides of the coins. 

‘We had to write down their dates, where they originate and what kind of tribe they came from. 

‘And once that’s done, we then took photos of them and then we uploaded them online into the website.’

Read more on Scottish Field’s News pages. 

Plus, don’t miss the December issue of Scottish Field magazine.