Details

LOT 105

Anglo-Saxon Monita Scorum - Sceatta

710-760 AD. Obv: diademed and draped profile bust right with MONITA SCORVM legend within beaded border. Rev: porcupine figure (degraded bust) within zig-zag and beaded border. Good extremely fine, slightly off-centre strike. Very rare type; the absence of a cross at the end of the obverse legend for this type apparently not previously recorded.(1.13 grams.).

Provenance

Found Tiptree, Essex, 2010; recorded with the Early Medieval Corpus, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Literature

S. 824; N. -; See EMC 2012.0236 (this coin); see Metcalf, Thrymsas and Sceattas, volume 3, pages 435-436 for discussion of the type and figures.

Footnotes

It is suggested by Marian Archibald that the obverse legend is an abbreviation for MONITA S(an)C(t)ORVM and that this type has affinities with Series Q and T; the bust has obvious similarities to those seen on late Roman types with most findspots recorded from eastern England; this example lacks the cross usually seen at the end of the legend so would appear top be a previously unrecorded variant and the composition by XRF analysis is 97% silver, 1% gold, 1% copper, 1.5% iron.