Details

LOT 1398

Anglo-Saxon Coins - Aethelstan - Scandinavian or Norse? - Irregular Circumscription Cross Penny

924-939(?) AD, imitative, BMC type v (variant). Obv: small cross with EÐIS.I.TANT+TOT BRIT irregular legend. Rev: small cross with pellet above one angle and +EIEMONETALVNER:. irregular legend for a moneyer 'Eie' (perhaps copying from Ellaf? at London?) at an uncertain, perhaps Scandinavian mint. Extremely fine; as struck. Very rare.(1.39 grams.).

Literature

S. 1092 (irregular); N. 671 (irregular); cf. EMC 1006.0193 (SCBI 6, 193) for a very similar example (different dies); cf. Blunt, C. E., page 108 for discussion of these enigmatic pieces.

Footnotes

A small number of these irregular or imitative coins have come to light over the years; five were in the Forum (Rome) hoard and a single was in each of the Trotternish, Skye 1891 (very similar coin published SCBI 6, 193. with other Viking, Saxon and Oriental coins) and Glendalough hoards; their origin is not certainly known but it might be indicative that these recorded specimens have either been found outside Britain or in Scotland; perhaps suggesting a Scandinavian/Viking imitative origin rather than being a blundered London issue.