LOT 2515

Anglo-Saxon Coins - Alfred the Great - Canterbury/Hebeca - Base AR Lunettes Penny 871-899 A.D.

Obv: profile bust right with +AELBRED REX legend. Rev: lunettes broken at edges with HEBECA for moneyer Hebeca between MON and ETA. Very fine, edge chip. Very rare.(1.08 grams, 20.09 mm.).

Found near Linton, Cambridgeshire, UK, on 13 January 2024.

Moneyer name on coin: HEBECA recorded with the Early Medieval Coin Corpus at the Fitzwilliam Museum as EMC 2024.0016 (This coin).

Lunette (lines with crooks), S. 1057A; N. 628 Mint.

Adrian W. Lyons and William A. Mackay The Lunettes Coinage of Alfred The Great, One of the authors of the above article, William MacKay, has commented as follows: 'This accords with BNJ Lyon and MacKay 2008, Alfred lunettes Mercian style obverse, var. V – see page 49. The bust aligns with the group V obverses of Burgred, in this case specifically type V5 – MacKay 2015, p. 127 and plate nos 152-182. The moneyer named on the coin is Hebeca. He appears as one the two moneyers striking lunettes pennies for Archbishop Ceolnoth so was likely Canterbury based. The Mercian style obverse die would likely have been cut at one of the Mercian mint workshops at London. The reverse type D – crooks - as here is scarce for Alfred.'