I just lost my mind (aka, Anglo-Saxon newps)

EVillageProwler

Here we are, on the eve of the 2015 NYINC show, and I haven't bought a real coin since Baltimore (I did buy a low-value sceat in early December because that was a curious piece). I got an email from CNG today telling me about new matches to my want list, and there were many!!! Too many, in fact, that I didn't know what to do. Work has been slow due to the holidays, and I've been in full-blown coin mode since after Christmas, and my wife is out of the country and there's no one around to control me (other than my dog). So what did I end up doing about these coins that interest me? Yes, you guessed it -- I bought a small handful of them. I'll just tell my wife that I bought a very nice Christmas present for myself later when we do video chat.

So, without further ado, here they are:

ANGLO-SAXON, Kings of Wessex. Eadwig. 955-959. AR Penny (21mm, 1.37 g, 1h). Circumscription Cross/Horizontal-Trefoil (HT 1 ‘York’) type. Eoferwic (York) mint; Hereger, moneyer. +E¯A¯DPIG REX, small cross pattée / (HE)RIG/ ΔER MO in two lines; +++ between, trefoils above and below. CTCE 68; SCBI 34 (BM), 783 = Walker, “A Hoard of Anglo-Saxon Coins from Tetney, Lincolnshire,” NC 1945, 61 var. (pellet on second line of reverse); North 724; SCBC 1122. Near EF, toned.

I already own a near EF S-1122, but I bought this anyway because these are rare and I think I got this for a good price. (Yes, I know it is stupid of me to think I can out-price CNG on this stuff.) The new coin and my old coin are actually different sub-varieties (different reverse) of S-1122, with differing North catalog numbers.

New:


Old:


Next coin:

ANGLO-SAXON, Secondary Sceattas. Circa 720-745. AR Sceat (12mm, 0.82 g). Series H, type 39. Hamwic mint. Stylized pecking bird right / Celtic cross. Abramson 46.10; SCBI 63 (BM), 458-9; North 96; SCBC 801. Good VF, toned.



Third coin:

ANGLO-SAXON, Secondary Sceattas. Circa 725-745. AR Sceat (12mm, 0.75 g, 6h). Series QIID, type 65. Uncertain mint in East Anglia (Elig [Ely]?). Bird standing left, with wings spread; small cross pommée to left, pellets around / Quadruped advancing left; pellets around. Abramson 64.110; SCBI 63 (BM), –; North 138; SCBC 809. EF, toned. Rare.



Final coin:

ANGLO-SAXON, Kings of All England. Cnut. 1016-1035. AR Penny (18mm, 1.11 g, 6h). Short Cross type (BMC xvi, Hild. H). Lundene (London) mint; Beorhtmær, moneyer. Struck circa 1029-1035/6. + CNV– RECX, daidemed bust left; trefoil-tipped scepter before / + BRIHTMER ON LVN, voided cross, with pellet-in-annulet at center. SCBI 14 (Copenhagen), 2198 (same dies); Hild 2039; BMC 430 var. (rev. legend); North 790; SCBC 1159. Superb EF, lustrous.

EVillageProwler

Here's the thread for my other Eadwig coin from earlier this year: Linky-poo

EVillageProwler

duplicate post.

JCMhouston

When the cats away...

Very nice group to pick up for an after Christmas surprise.

Weiss

Don't know a thing about them, but I can tell that they're hardcore. Great pieces with great history.

Zohar

Like them all yet the NEWP Eadwig rocks.

OriginalDan

Great stuff EVP, you're the only guy I know that collects these (maybe I need more friends?) so I like to hear about your newps.

NiceCurrency

I don't know anything about these type of coins, but I've grown to appreciate their crude look and the ones you've posted here are really nice

EVillageProwler

Thanks guys.

They're crude because Britain at the time had recently exited the Dark Ages and was frequently in a state of upheaval.

Nap

Seems your dog is quite the enabler!

Nice pieces you've acquired! Especially like the series Q sceat with the quadruped. Very similar to the early Northumbrian designs, and presumably contemporary with them.

Haven't made any purchases this month, trying to save up for NYINC. Have a non-British medieval coin on my radar but we'll see. Otherwise it seems there are many coins I'd like coming up for sale in the next month.

Tell me, how are you collecting sceattas? Are you simply picking up designs you like, or are you looking for certain themes? Are you trying to collect different series? Primary vs secondary vs continental?

Tibor

Very nice additions. The Cnut looks almost FDC.

EVillageProwler

My dog "controls" me by forcing me to get out of bed and doing stuff: walking her, etc. Otherwise, I may just stay in bed all day watching TV and scouring the Internet for coins. Not healthy for me physically, mentally or financially.

Nap - I collect sceattas based on what I perceive to be rare, nice, interesting or good value. I'll chase the good stuff no matter if transitional, primary period, secondary period or continental.

Tibor - I don't have the coins yet, but CNG is known to be conservative in their grading of this stuff so I'm hoping the final Cnut issue will be FDC. I already have an S-1157 that is (unfortunately) graded by NGC as MS65. That piece is pristine, frosty and (again, unfortunately) basically untoned. I'd like to crack out my (few) slabbed Anglo-Saxon pieces, but their slabbed grades are too high for me to want to risk.

EVP

EVillageProwler

<< <i>Great stuff EVP, you're the only guy I know that collects these (maybe I need more friends?) so I like to hear about your newps. >>



Your wife pays me to be your friend.

worldcoinguy

Nice buys EVP!

grilloj39

Beautiful and a great way to spend a vacation...staying home!

MrEureka

Nice appetizers before the NYINC feast!

EVillageProwler

Thanks guys. I'll update when I get the coins in hand and have better images.



<< <i>Nice appetizers before the NYINC feast! >>



Sadly, their offices are closed so I haven't officially closed the deal. I may end up eating the appetizers while being served the feast!

Nap

<< <i>My dog "controls" me by forcing me to get out of bed and doing stuff: walking her, etc. Otherwise, I may just stay in bed all day watching TV and scouring the Internet for coins. Not healthy for me physically, mentally or financially.

Nap - I collect sceattas based on what I perceive to be rare, nice, interesting or good value. I'll chase the good stuff no matter if transitional, primary period, secondary period or continental.

EVP >>



My cat controls me just the opposite- she can sense when I need to get up and do stuff and she jumps on my chest and starts purring to try to get me to stay in bed all day.

I think that's a good attitude for the sceattas. Sceattas can't be collected in the same way as coins with dates, rulers, mint insignia, or other identifying marks. What we know about their dates and places of origin is largely an extrapolation of data from metal detecting. The stories they tell are foreign to us, the pictures are not of famous landmarks, kings or princes, or marvels of engineering. The religious symbolism is unfamiliar, even though it's mostly Christian. Many of them are imitation of Merovingian coins, which have designs even more obscure. The designs are crude, the artistic ability of the engravers is dreadful, and the coins themselves are very small. The numismatic references are confusing. While some of this makes collecting these coins a good value, much of it keeps other numismatists shying away from them. To those that appreciate these coins, much of the uncertainty is fascinating, rather than discouraging.

If I decide to attempt to start a sceatta set in the future, most likely after I hit a wall with the Northumbrian coins, I probably will take an approach similar to yours.

EVillageProwler

Nap - not to be too picky, but I think the best we can do with sceattas is to form an accumulation not really a set. But, I love these pieces. They are so intriguing. My first sceattas had runic enscriptions, so I read up on runic and proto-Germanic and other related proto languages.

EVillageProwler

I found my new Eadwig penny in Lloyd Bennett's archives from 2009.

Linky-Poo


TWO LINE TYPE.
.'.HERIG / + + + / AERMO '.'
Ex:- Tetney hoard (R.N.C.61-4).
A very attractive piece - about as struck.
A REALLY GOOD VERY FINE +

(He is regarded as being extremely conservative when grading coins, so "A REALLY GOOD VERY FINE +" coin really is very, VERY good (which I think mine is!).