Cnut penny NEWP

Bob13

I have enjoyed seeing these types of pennies with their not-very-life-like portraits of the Kings of England on them. This one caught my eye as richly toned, and arrived yesterday.
Obverse: CNUT REX AI
Reverse: ELFPINE (Aelfwine) ON LUND

Here are some pics through the plastic in direct sunlight, and the HA pictures.

A few things I learned:

• this type is very common - they had to make a LOT of coins to pay off the Danes/Vikings. Even though Cnut was a Dane, he still had to pay his army. A lot of this type ended up in hoards in and out of England.
• Peck Marks - these are reported to be test marks. But, a lot of coins have them, often many of them. I wonder if this was more a function of collecting and transporting all these tiny coins? I will say that the peck marks, to me, add rather than detract from this particular coin.
• Rudyard Kipling's poem "The Dane-geld" with this line: "once you have paid him the Danegeld/ You never get rid of the Dane."

I know that @EVillageProwler and @BillJones have some wonderful examples - would be great to see some others in this thread.

EVillageProwler

Pretty coin @Bob13. IMO, the details grade does the coin a disservice and if I were in your place I’d crack it out in a heartbeat.

As for the peck marks, they are deliberately done as a form of verification. They are not similar to bag marks from jostling. And usually for me, they too do not detract. Usually.

Here’s mine (not as pretty as yours):

BillJones

For his time, Cnut was a good king.

There was a story about he had his throne sat out on a beach. He commanded that the tide not to rise, but it did anyway and washed up on his feet. The moral of the story was that Cnut was not full of himself like so many kings are and was just a man.

Despite the fact that he was Danish, he ruled England fairly and well and brought a period of stability to the country that it had not enjoyed in years. That's more than you can say for most of the Viking leaders who ruled England harshly and poorly.

EVillageProwler

Yeah, Cnut was a good king by the standards of the time.

Here’s one of his Danish issues:

John Conduitt

Nice coin. I'm not sure how it got to tone like that. Maybe in a hoard.

I don't think TPGs should grade hammered coins. Authenticate, sure, to provide reassurance. But grade? There's no point, as there are so many different influences on how a hammered coin comes out.

The icing on the cake is giving a details grade for peck marks. Anyone who has a Cnut penny wants some good, well-placed peck marks! You can picture the Viking taking his knife from his sock and stabbing the coin to test it before he accepts it in exchange for a length of walrus ivory. The grade should be: wear 5, peck marks 5.

I bought this Aethelred the Unready penny specifically because of the peck marks. (He suffered a fair amount at the hands of Cnut). And the crude attempt at copying the armour from a Roman (Constantinian) design, mistaking the shield for shoulder armour.

Aethelred II Helmet Type Penny, 1003-1009

London. Silver, 1.5g. +Æ Ð ELRÆD REX ΛNGL. +EADPOLD M.Ω.D LUND (Eadwold moneyer, London) (S1152).

Bob13

“Anyone who has a Cnut penny wants some good, well-placed peck marks! You can picture the Viking taking his knife from his sock and stabbing the coin to test it before he accepts it in exchange for a length of walrus ivory. “

@JohnConduitt - that’s what I am talking about!

@EVillageProwler - I may crack it out. The white prongs and scratches on holder make it hard to appreciate the coin.

thefinn

How much did this set you back?
Very nice in my opinion.

Bob13

Just about $500 with the buyers premium. Then the usual Heritage handling and shipping fees.

To be honest, I think that was a very good price - it went for lower than I was willing to pay. I think that the details designation turned off some potential bidders.

7Jaguars

Not my series as it is much earlier, but VERY attractive. I wonder if the putative TPG grade held it down?