A few new British Anglo-Saxon coins

Nap

Likely Kentish transitional pale gold thrymsa of the mid-late 7th century. Debasement of gold coinage took place during the production of several gold shillings or "thrymsas", culminating in a coinage that was mostly silver. There's still a touch of gold in this one. These thrymsas predate the sceatta coinage.

Understood to be Northumbrian, this coin, a sceatta, was likely made in York, ca. 710-725, although it did not name any rulers. Somewhat difficult to accept that these anonymous issues should be sandwiched in between literate inscribed coins in the names of Kings Aldfrith (685-704) and Eadberht (737-758), and I think it is not unreasonable to suspect they are not official royal coinage.

A Viking penny in the name of St. Peter, patron saint of the city of York.
Viking coinage in York began at around the start of the 10th century with a coinage in the names of 'Cnut' (a different Cnut than the later king of England) and 'Siefred', a probably short-lived coinage but one which survives in great numbers due to the Cuerdale hoard. Subsequently, an anonymous coinage in the name of St. Peter follows, of which this coin is probably a late type.
After the St. Peter coinage there was an inscribed coinage in the names of Ragnald and Sihtric Caech, Hiberno-Norse kings from Ireland who conquered Northumbria. A subsequent anonymous second coinage in 920s in the name of St. Peter features a sword (probably the Sword of Carlus, a 9th century Irish Viking hero), and Thor's hammer. Viking coinage continued, mostly in the name of the kings of York, until the mid 10th century, culminating with Eric Bloodaxe, after which king Eadred of England brought Northumbria into the English fold.
All Viking coinage from York is rare, but the Cnut, Siefred, and St. Peter coinages are the most common, due to their survival in several large hoards.
This a rare variant of the "swordless" St. Peter coinage, with a blundered version of "Sancti Petri" in one line, instead of the usual two lines. The one-line St. Peter coins make up a subset of the earlier swordless type. There are only a handful known, and they all feature symbols, including the tree, the key (St. Peter's key to heaven), a candelabra, a star or propeller, and a large cross.

ajaan

I'm digging the Viking penny. It's groovy.

bronzemat

Loving all those coins, great stuff & history they hold.

EVillageProwler

@Nap,

Nice newps. Your thrymsa looks also to be a PADA IIIb, which makes it either SCBC 770 (likely) or 773, which I have down as from King Hlothere (if recent unpublished die chain study is accurate). Regarding this unpublished study, I have seen a 2-page portion from a dealer in Baltimore as well as reference to this study in recent listings on CNG site (Baltimore dealer unassociated with CNG), so we know this study is not some flight-of-fancy paper by a passionate dealer.

Your sceatt looks like it's Series J, type 36 (SCBC 802D), which makes it either Osred I (705-716), Cœnred (716-718) or Osric (718-729) if minted under royal authority. I can see why you question its official status. I have three Series J sceattas: 85 (802), 37 (802A) and 36 (802D). For types 85 and 37, both sellers attributed the mint as "probable York", which would make them likely royal issues. For the type 36 specifically, the seller simply says "North Lincolnshire", which makes it part of Yorkshire, Northumbria. Nearly every sceatt is "anonymous", but I think "unattributed" is a better word to use. The seller for my type 85 even suggests an attribution of Cœnred or Osric. So while the evidence bars conclusiveness, I suggest that we not tend towards a "midnight minter" just because the Series J are of a different design than the rest of the Northumbrian coinage series.

Your Viking Saint Peter coin is very intriguing to me. I like it. Need to research it some more.

EVP

EVillageProwler

About that Series J type 36 sceatt from Northumbria...

The Kingdom of Northumbria didn't come into being until 654 with Oswiu. Prior to that, it was two kingdoms: Bernicia (north) and Deira (south, including York). Prior to a unified kingdom, there was occasionally a Line of Deira ruling Bernicia and a Line of Bernicia ruling Deira briefly.

Oswiu was from the Bernicia dynasty, sitting in the former seat of power of Deira of this newly unified Kingdom. Fast forward to 705 and we have Osred I ascending the throne of Northumbria. Osred was the grandson of Oswiu. Legend has it that he was killed in 716 (in battle or due to murder) by Cœnred. Cœnred was also Bernician, but from the earliest line of Bernician kings (descended from Ida, the founder). However Osred's death, we have a dynastic change for a 2-year period. In 718, Osric (brother of Osred) reclaimed the throne for his dynasty.

So what this say about the Series J sceattas? Nothing, perhaps, or something... It allows for the possibility that Cœnred just wanted to change the type, or the chaos allowed for "midnight minters" to continue coinage in a manner similar to other prevailing types outside the kingdom.

EVP

Jackthecat1

Very nice coins, so much history there.

Nap

EVP, thanks for the commentary.

I am interested to see the unpublished research on PADA PIII thrymsas, which we have discussed in private correspondence. Hopefully it will be released in the near future. I find it hard to draw much in conclusions about narrowing down the time period when these were produced. Presumably, the debasement was a progressive (if not linear) process, culminating with a silver coinage that immediately preceded Series A.

I agree with your attribution of S.770, since it is pale gold rather than silver.

As for the sceatt. I agree that it is S.802D, type 36. I am skeptical that it is a royal issue, given that the Aldfrith and Eadberht coins which preceded and followed it look more like coin successors. The idea of competing factions in Northumbria producing different style coins is tempting, but should be approached cautiously given the lack of other evidence.

For those not familiar with the series, here are coins of Aldfrith and Eadberht:

The designs are different, but similar. They have nothing in common with the Series J coin listed above, which is why I am skeptical. James Booth, among the most respected scholars of Northumbrian coins, in "Northumbrian Coinage and the Productive Site at South Newbald" doubts that any of these were struck under official Northumbrian auspices. On the other hand, Michael Metcalf is of the opinion that all of series J was produced at York, but even he admitted in "The Coinage of King Aldfrith of Northumbria and Some Contemporary Imitations" that his theory was not picking up too much traction.

The third coin of mine in the name of St. Peter is S.1006. The most detailed sources on the coinage are "Chronology of the St. Peter Coinage" by Stewart and Lyon, and "The Swordless St Peter Coinage of York" by Gooch. Both of these sources believe the one-line type is among the latest of the St. Peter "swordless" coinage. Of the few known specimens, most have been found in York, but one was found in Geashill, Ireland; one found in Birka, Sweden; and my example was found in Scarning, East Anglia. (Mine happens to be from the same dies as the Geashill example, for what it's worth). The wide distribution of a type of which probably only around a dozen are known suggests the coinage was not meant to be a small insular production and probably was produced in good numbers, but just has not survived. It was suggested somewhere that the one-line type might be an unofficial imitation, but I cannot accept this since several of these coins are from hoards which include other "official" coins of St. Peter, as well as coins of Regnald I which directly followed this type. I would not be surprised if these coins were made under the auspices of Regnald, rather than before it.

EVillageProwler

@Nap,

You have a 3-decade gap between the two monarchs represented by the two attributed sceattas. That's quite a gap not to have any royal issues. The matter of the mint site for Series J is not necessarily germane to the question of royal status.

Most dealers say "probable mint at York" or will list the region (e.g., North Lincolnshire), so, yeah, they don't necessarily agree with Metcalf. But, Northumbria had more than one mint (I strongly believe), so for Series J (some or all) originating at another mint is no big deal to me.

EVP

EVillageProwler

BTW, did you show me that PADA PIIIb at NYINC?

Nap

Northumbria was a fairly large region, and while York was far and away the largest "city" I have no problem accepting that there may have been other mint locations. There just isn't a lot to support coins originating from anywhere else.

I have not read Metcalf's 3-volume work on sceattas so I wouldn't yet say whether I am on board with his theory. As always, these are theories that can be rethought with new archaeological evidence.

There is no doubt that series J circulated in Northumbria but given the similarities to series B and G (which also circulated in Northumbria but were less likely to have been produced there), it may be that these coins found use there when the official royal coinage dried up.

I did not have the PADA thrymsa to show you at this year's show, because I had just ordered it. Next year!

Weiss

You boys sure talk purdy.

EVillageProwler

@Weiss said:
You boys sure talk purdy.

LOL! Yeah, I get your meaning but you should hear how the JRCS and LSCC members (light side) talk at their club meetings! And I imagine the BHNC and EAC members are even worse!

To everyone else: the status of these Series J sceattas is important because they represent an anomaly. To summarize:

• in general, all locally produced coinage were under due authority
• contemporary counterfeits exist, but they are poor quality versions of existing type not a new type
• official Northumbrian coinage were attributed

No one thinks the Series J were contemporary counterfeits. Therefore, they cause assertions 1 and 3 to be mutually incompatible.

There is a 3-decade gap between the two typical official Northumbrian coinage wherein the Series J lie. This time span also covers 3 or 4 monarchs, during which time their biggest external threats were from the Picts. That's quite a long time without royal coinage to pay the troops.

I'm a fan of Occam's razor, but in this case I'm not seeing a simple possible explanation.

EVP

Nap

Haha, sorry to get a bit technical. EVP and I could have had this discussion over private correspondence, but thought it might be fun to involve the crowd. Neither of us are serious scholars of this stuff, just two collectors trying to make sense of the complicated history of over 1000 years ago.

The crux of this is that uninscribed coinage sandwiched between two inscribed royal issues does make telling a cohesive narrative of the coinage quite difficult. Especially since there are no records and minimal hoard finds. But whoever said that this stuff was easy?

There is always the possibility that the inscribed coinage of Aldfrith at the turn of the 8th century was an anomaly, something ahead of its time, and maybe even a relatively small coinage that was more of a trial run at a time when most coins were not inscribed. Perhaps the coinage of Eadberht was meant to be a revival of the Aldfrith type rather than a continuation of an established practice.

asheland

Great thread!

EVillageProwler

I wish to add that royal inscription could have been (should have been; was???) used to advertise authority.

That the sceatt series south of the Humber river had as norm no such inscription (and didn't until the broad flan denier-like penny series) gives weight to @Nap's idea that maybe Aldfrith's sceattas were avant-garde.

Not convenient now to look deeper, but there is a sceatt elsewhere in Anglo-Saxon lands with royal inscription: by Beonna. I wonder where this fits in the timeline.

EVP

EVillageProwler

The Beonna (King of East Anglia) sceatt was struck circa 757-760/5, which was the latter half of his reign. After Beonna, East Anglia started minting the broad flan pennies, so this bit of data doesn't add any value to the matter of the Series J.

TBH, the Beonna sceatt is a fairly well struck coin (usually) and resembles a well-rounded small-flan penny than it does a crudely shaped sceatt from earlier. So, maybe I shouldn't have mentioned this in the first place...