Celtic Chieftain’s chariot brooch - £55,000

The brooch is made from cast copper-alloy. The front is decorated with champlevé enamel - red glass - forming a flowing pattern of opposed scrolls with tips that curl like breaking waves. The decoration is in the tradition of the Celtic ‘South Western Style’. The very rare horse brooch would probably have belonged to a wealthy Celtic chieftain in the mid 1st century AD. They indicate high status. There are only a handful of known examples from Britain. Buckinghamshire, where it was found, was once the territory of the Trinovantes and the Catuvellauni, two of the most powerful and richest tribes in Ancient Britain.