V.II Contemporary Imitations of early Anglo-Saxon pennies.
Contemporary Imitations of Anglo-Saxon pennies of the ninth century and before are excessively rare. Most have come to light in recent years with the assistance of metal detectors. Less than ten are known in total, from the reign of ◊ffa of Mercia [during whose reign the penny was introduced] to that of Æðelberht of Wessex. These vary much in style and some copy the legends of known official moneyers. There has been very little published on the subject as it remains on the whole little researched and understood.
The Spink Numismatic Circular for September 1990 has a somewhat dated article entitled 'Two More Ninth Century Imitations of Mercian Coins' by E Tomlinson Fort. This brought the total of then known Mercian irregular coins to six [some have since been proven regular issues], and Tomlinson quotes liberally from Blunt, Lyon and Stewarts seminal study of the ninth century coinage of Southern England. But the interesting point made by Tomlinson in this article is that the authors do not even consider the possiblity that two uncertain coins, ERETCODMONET issues of Cœnwulf, may be contemporary imitations. Indeed they try to fit them into accepted mints, and known moneyer legends. Perhaps this is a case of 'cant see the wood for the trees' [no offence intended]. My point is that it is too easy for most researchers to accept crude portrait coins, or those with blundered or meaningless legends as 'East Anglian issues' but that they might not have been officially produced must also be taken into account and researched.
My own coin has been confirmed as a contemporary Imitation by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. It is copied from an official coin of Cœnvulf of Mercia. N 352 Cross Moline reverse, by the moneyer OBA. The official issue was produced at Canterbury c.810-821. The genuine coins have a diademed bust right of good style, with the pronounced Roman-style nose common to Mercian portrait coins. The obverse legend reads †COENVVLF REX M around the bust, with the drapery breaking the inner circle between Cœnwulf and Rex. The reverse legend reads †◊BA †MON †ETA around a small Cross Moline. Five examples are recorded on the EMC database. Another can be found in the Timothy Cook Collection.
My coin is unlikely to be the product of Oba's Canterbury workshop. The bust is of a strange, crude style - almost barbaric. The drapery is shaped differently to all the known genuine coins, which have straight or gently curving lines. On my coin they are rounded [as on some later Mercian coinage]. The legend is badly blundered [but not meaningless] and reads †OEN[H or þ?] the N is reversed, the final obverse letter is undetermined but is perhaps þ for COENþVLF, although this form of his name is never used on any of his genuine coins. It is however used a couple of years later in the reign of Beornþvlf of Mercia. It is a distinct possibility that the forger used a current form of lettering for an old issue without realising his mistakes.
The forger does pay some attention to detail regarding styles used in the legend lettering. He obviously wished his creation to look as near genuine as possible. The style of lettering used by him is very close to that used on official coins, down to the diamond-shaped ◊ of ◊BA. At least one of his reverse crosses is in the correct position and his M of MONETA is rounded in the Mercian style, resembling an Omega symbol, as on the real thing.
The fabric of my coin is of course composed of base metal, having a very low silver content. It does not ring true when dropped on a surface. Although having said that a few later ninth-century official pennies [Burgred and Ælfred for example] have less than 20% silver.
Rory Naismith states that my coin was recorded [weight and die-axis] by Derek Chick [indeed, Chick cleaned it as well] in his annotated copy of The Coinage of Southern England, 796-840. He also draws a comparison between the style of my coin and that of two contemporary imitations of Cuðred of Kent [one in BM, one in the Stewartby Collection]. These have unusually crude obverses, although the legends are intelligiable. One [Stewartby, illustrated above,] has a 'Chevron A' reverse and is in the name of the well known moneyer DVDA. The other has a Cross and Wedges reverse, in the name of the later moneyer SIGESTEF. He places all three coins late in Cœnvulf's reign or slightly after. I would place them a year or two later still, after Cœnvulf's brother Ceolvulf I had been overthrown in AD823. They were probably produced in the reign of Beornþvlf [823-825] or Lvdica [825-827]. This was the age of the usurper, the termination of Mercian traditional kingship, and to a certain extent authority. Although I certainly agree with Rory's theory that my coin, along with the two 'Cuthreds' was unofficially produced somewhere in East Anglia. This is evident by comparing stylistic similarities between these and official East Anglian issues.
Sources : EMC/SCBI database website. Spink Numismatic Circular, September 1990. The Coinage of Southern England, 796-840. Blunt, Lyon, Stewart. English Hammered Coinage, Vol 2. J.J. North. Debasement of the Coinage in Southern England in the Age of King Aelfred. Metcalf, Northover. Special thanks to Rory Naismith and Mike Bonser.
Images of the coin from the Stewartby Collection recieved from the Fitzwilliam Museum Coin Department. With many thanks.
- Posted by dragonbloodaxe on 09/08/2007.
- dragonbloodaxe's site
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