This paper has two aims. Firstly, it seeks to re-examine ‘the gap’ in depth and assess the strength and nature of the pattern, including which issues are associated with it. Secondly, it seeks to assess the impact on that pattern of the proposed re-dating of the issues from the end of the second century and the beginning of the first century BC by the late Harold Mattingly.10 In working to achieve these two principal aims, the paper also demonstrates both the advantages and limitations of multivariate statistical analysis of coin hoard data. To conclude, some possible explanations for the pattern are discussed
