I.III An extremely rare Offa of Mercia penny.
This is an extremely rare example of the coinage of King ◊ffa of Mercia, 757-796. It is an 'Annulet and pellet' penny, North 289. There are only three coins of this type in existence. One found at Hindringham, Norfolk in 1990, my example, found at Atcham, Shropshire, and one other with a similar obverse but a different reverse (North 320) in the British Museum, from a Nineteenth century collection.
The obverse reads +◊FFΛ REX ME(RCIORUM), ◊ffa King of the mercians. The '◊' of Offa is lozenge shaped and Runic. The 'M' of Me is Mercian in style and particular to Mercian coins. This title was one of many used by ◊ffa throughout his reign, and by the end had become fairly standard. The central device is probably a 'C' with a contraction mark above, continuing the 'Merciorum' legend. Similar to devices on the early coins of Archbishop Æðelheard, with ◊ffa as Overlord.
The reverse is a celtic cross, with annulet centre containing a saltire cross. The moneyers name, OSMOD, is between the angles of the celtic cross. Osmod is a rare moneyer and minted this type, North 263 and 264 of the light coinage and North 320, of the heavy coinage, mentioned above. Only eleven of his coins are recorded on the EMC.
This type belongs to the light coinage of ◊ffa, c765?-792, but is believed to be an early transitional issue of the heavy coinage, 792-796. At any rate it was the last non-portrait type of the reign. We do not really know where the type was minted. Probably at Canterbury, often the principal mint of the 8th/9th century. The Hindringham coin is certainly attributed to Canterbury. The alternative is London, where some of his coins were also minted. There was also an East Anglian mint (this type was not produced at that mint) and there may have been one (probably ecclesiastical) at Rochester.
King ◊ffa reformed the English coinage in the 760's to bring it in line with the new Carolingian penny of Charlemagne. It was the same size and weight, and therefore could be traded internationally at the same value. Although ◊ffa prohibited the circulation of foriegn coins in England so that his own coinage would dominate the currency. In 792 ◊ffa reformed the currency again, increasing the size and weight of the English penny. This made it deliberately incompatible with the French denier, as he and Charlemagne were at this time engaged in a trade war.
My coin, above, was purchased from a well known dealer, in two halves, separately, about a year apart. The first half, found in 1992, was sold to the dealer by the detectorist that found it. I purchased it from an online website. This is the silver coloured half. The detectorist then, almost unbelievably found the other half of the coin in the same field twelve years later in 2004!! He then sold that half to the dealer, who contacted me to see if I wanted to purchase it. I of course did purchase it, and sent photos of the completed coin to the dealer to be forwarded on to the detectorist for his records. A remarkable story, but nevertheless a true one !! The coin is registered on the EMC database as EMC 2006.0061.
Sources : EMC database website. SCBI database website. BBC history website. Coinage and the Economy in Anglo-Saxon England website. English Hammered Coinage, Volume One, JJ North. With special thanks to Dr. Martin Allen of the Fitzwilliam museum, Cambridge.
- Posted by dragonbloodaxe on 22/03/2006.
- dragonbloodaxe's site
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