My newest oldest coin. Æthey arrives!

Sylvestius

Up until this morning my oldest coin was an English penny from the mid twelfth century.

Now my oldest coin is this;




Æthelstan penny, from one of the North Eastern mints, moneyor ASULF.

Æthelstan was king of the English kingdom of Wessex from 924-939, when he succeeded his father Edward the Elder, Wessex was already the dominant kingdom of the English, by the end of his reign Æthelstan was in effect the king of the majority of England. He also claimed the tilte King of England rather liberally, and he even referred to himself as REX TO BRIT (King of the whole of Britain) despite the fact that he didn't rule Scotland or Wales.

He was one of the most successful of the Anglo-Saxon kings of England.

1jester

Nice coin and interesting history lesson. Thanks for sharing both!

coachleonard

Any silver penny before 1180 is tough, but the ones before aethelred II (978-1016) are REALLLY tough to get ahold of. Nice coin

Sylvestius

<< <i>Any silver penny before 1180 is tough, but the ones before aethelred II (978-1016) are REALLLY tough to get ahold of. Nice coin >>




It is the only Athelstan coin i've ever actually come across for sale (auction rooms probably have them every now and again), but general dealers tend to lack such material. I've always kept an eye out for one... it only took me 13 years to find one! [I'll probably see them all the time now!]

Athey is particularly tough, other tough ones such as Alfred the Great are much more common (much more popular though!)

Old 'stan though is an important part of English numismatic history, not only is he the first real king of the whole of England (certainly the first to widely promote himself as such), but he greatly developed the court record keeping system and it was he who was responsible for attempting to ensure that his kingdom had one distinct type of coin (the silver penny), rather than different types in different areas.

It was also Athelstan who stated that moneyors found to be debasing or producing underweight coins should have their hand removed. It's clear he saw the importance of a stable, standardised and high quality currency system and woe betide anyone that tried to make a profit at his expense! (Pity Henry VIII didn't take a leaf out of his book!)

And just incase you're wondering 'Æthel' means 'noble' and 'Stan' means 'stone'.

AuldFartte

I covet that coin, Syl !!!

python

Congrats, that's a very difficult monarch.