+ DAVE'S : RARE : COINS

I.VIII From the same dies ............

       Unregistered Eadred, Type HR 2. My Collection.

This coin is extremely rare. Coins of Eadred (946-955) are not particularly so. This is an uncommon type, HR (Horizontal Reverse) 2, which features a cross patee between two annulets on the reverse. North lists this type as VR. It is from an unknown North Western mint town. The moneyer is Thurmod. His name spelt this way on the reverse die makes the coin ER. Only three are EMC/SCBI recorded for Eadred (and another two for Edmund), the British Museum has one, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge has another, and mine is the third known example. My coin is broken into three pieces, the other two are whole. Mine is also the only single find of the five (although its findspot is unknown), and the only one not in a museum.

Thurmod is DRMODE MO(NETA) on only these three coins of Eadred. There are only seven known coins of his recorded, minted in the name of Eadred, and the style of his name varies on these coins. He also minted for Edmund (939-946), Eadwig (king of England 955-957) and Eadgar (king of England 959-975).

All three 'DRMODE' Eadred  coins are a perfect die match. This means that the same reverse die, called a trussell (the obverse die is called a pile) was used to strike all three coins. This can be ascertained by a simple process of comparison. If two fixed points on the obverse or reverse of coins of the same monarch and coiner are identical then this is a match. If this process is repeated for several fixed points on both coins with the same results, then the likelihood is that they came from the same die or dies.

SCBI 1, 1958, coin 594. Fitzwilliam Museum. Same dies

SCBI 34, 1986, coin 662. British Museum. Same dies.

There are several fixed points on these coins that provide a perfect match :

The centre cross patee is slanted right.

The configuration and position of the rosettes of pellets.

DEMO, the bottom line on the coin, slants down and to the right.

The die has a flaw which causes the 'O' on the top line to be almost completely filled in.

The three 'O's on the right of the field are in an exact line downwards.

The initial 'D' (theta).

There is a small die flaw within the 'M' of MO(NETA).

The proximity of the 'E' of DRMODE to the cross patee.

I have listed only eight matches here, although there are others. The obverse die, the pile, I believe is also the same one used for all three coins. Both dies are slightly flawed but not worn.

Sources : SCBI database website. EMC database website. Wikipedia website. Spink, Coins of England. English Hammered Coinage, Volume One. JJ North.

• Posted by dragonbloodaxe on 03/05/2006.
• dragonbloodaxe's site