2017- my ten coin year in review (British Anglo-Saxon coins)

This is priceless, thank you!!

 

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LOL, at first I was PROUD of myself being able to comprehend... then it began to sink in... LOL at the end:

 

Tremendous coins Nap! I have yet to obtain any type of Saxon coinage from England. Some of them bring up the names of Kings from the Viking series on TV. Knightfall and Vikings are my favorite shows CNG/ Triton XXI has a nice selection of Anglo-Saxon gold/silver. Seems metal detectorists are starting to find more material, I wish them lots of luck.

 

What a cool group of coins! That first one is awesome, I don't remember seeing anything quite like it! And the next two are beauties!

I had not idea what a sceat was!

 

Apparently Ecgberht the Archbishop and Bede the monk were buddies. However, the former lived in York and the latter in Jarrow (near modern day Newcastle-upon-Tyne), a decent distance away for the medieval traveler, so I imagine they didn't get to hang out all that much. But I'm sure Ecgberht made sure to come by every now and then to catch up on eccliastic matters and of course to drink Bede's Venerable Newcastle Brown Ale.

Ecgberht was the brother of King Eadberht, and presumably their relationship allowed church and state to work together well. After a long reign, Eadberht decided to abdicate in favor of his son, and spend the rest of his days kicking it in the monastary at York with his brother. With civil and church matters seemingly settled, and a son to succeed him, Eadberht could reasonably look forward to the smooth continuation of the dynasty in the form of his son Oswulf, or in the event of some calamity, his other son Oswine.

Unfortunately it was not to be. Within a year of abandoning the throne in favor of reading books and brewing beer, Eadberht saw his world collapse when a usurper named Aethelwald Moll murdered Oswulf, took over the throne, and then knocked off Oswine when the latter tried to rebel.

This is usually where you hear the continuation "there was a purge of the rest of the family and all relatives of the old dynasty were hunted down and put to death or exiled". But strangely, this was not to be. Eadberht lived out his days in the monastery for nearly another decade, and Ecgberht remained archbishop of York throughout Aethelwald's reign. In addition, when Aethelwald's reign came to an end just 6 years later, he was deposed and sent to a monastary (not killed), his son was allowed to live (and would eventually become king himself), and a member of Eadberht's family named Alchred took over rulership in Northumbria.

This suprising leniency may be illuminating in its own right. While Aethelwald may not have been a member of Ecgberht's family, he could have been nobility as well. Northumbria was created from the combination of two even older kingdoms, Deira and Bernicia. There is some evidence that these two regions remained somewhat different even after the combining of the kingdom. Eadberht was of Bernician descent, Aethelwald could have been Deiran, and possibly had a reasonable claim to the throne. However, since Eadberht had been a long ruling and possibly popular monarch, it would not do to just knock off the old guy and the rest of his family, especially if Aethelwald was trying to make a case for his new dynasty, as it would appear he was trying to do through his coinage. Aethelwald issued a coin with both he and his son's names on it. Sadly only two examples are known.

Back to the coins- Ecgberht issued joint coinage with Eadberht, Aethelwald, and Alchred. Of these, the first is the most interesting, featuring a full length picture of the archbishop himself. I have one, though the quality is not the greatest and I'm probably going to try to upgrade it next year:



Ecgberht also issued coins with Aethelwald Moll, and though the latter's reign was some 6 years according to the chronicle, coinage is minimal. There are a mere three coins known of Aethelwald/Ecgberht. The finest one just sold in a DNW auction (I did not buy it). Here is my example, the lowest grade of the three known:



And then the Alchred/Ecgberht was the third type, which I posted earlier in the thread. Somewhat more common than the Aethelwald, but far rarer than Eadberht.

I have a Danelaw imitation of Alfred's famous "Londonia" type, produced some itme after retaking London from the Vikings. I didn't realize it was an imitation when I bought it, but I have no doubt in my mind that it is indeed an imitation. No matter, it's still rare and the value is about the same. But I would still like to get an "official" coin of Alfred the Great.



Your sceat appears to be a series BII, presumably of Kentish origin, belonging to the primary phase, with a date of around 710.

For further reading, feel free to jump into this detailed article:
https://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital BNJ/pdfs/1960_BNJ_30_4.pdf

 

Fantastic! Ive always enjoyed Anglo-Saxon history, and if I hadn't become so enamoured with the 12th century, then that is probably where my interests would have lyed.

Incedentally, I used to live not far from Jarrow, and part of Bede's church still stands:

I thought I had a wider shot of it, but this portion with the tiny windows is the original 7th century part. It used to be a part of an anglo-Saxon museum and farm, but I recall seeing headlines that it shut down due to lack of funds. A shame, really...

 

This is a great thread Nap. I am learning so much and seeing wonderful coins to boot.

 

You have an amazing collection, Nap! I hope to see more of it, more often.

I have seen a few of these offered where the style strongly suggested an imitation, but they weren't listed as such; good to get confirmation that this is indeed what they are. I agree: one needs both! I look forward to seeing your official Alfred when you get it.

Thanks so much for this info and the reference. I'm pleased to learn that my coin can be securely dated to a particular Kentish king, Wihtred, likely a descendant of Hengist (if the latter existed at all). Very cool!

 

Yeah, what he said!

 

Wonderful coins 'Nap', you really are putting together the basis of a magnificent collection of Anglo-Saxon coins and at quite a pace too! You know that I collect the same series and the way you are going you could, in some years, have a more comprehensive and impressive collection than me. It hurts me to say that but it's true, so keep it up, along with your comprehensive research on each piece. I'm somewhat restricted now from making major purchases, as I'm fully retired. I've found a collector of similar coins to me, who is in the prime of life, with the wherewithal to amass a great many coins, over the coming years. Just my luck??!! lol, lol.

 

Thanks John.

There must be quite a few up and coming collectors in this field, as noted by the ever surging prices of choice material.

If I wish to catch up you and your collection, and that is no small task, I'll have to stay focused for the better part of the next few decades, which may prove challenging with young children and all, but hopefully I'll continue to be able to add to the collection.

One neat acquisition which is en route and probably won't arrive till after the holiday is from the Archbishop John Sharp collection- I don't know if you followed the recent sale from Morton and Eden- but here are coins with a clear provenance to the 1600s (it stayed in the family for over 300 years), and the stycas are from the 1695 find at Ripon. The provenance of that just seemed way too cool to pass up. Wish I could've bought the whole collection. I'll put up a post on that when the coins arrive.

 

I must admit, I didn't notice the Archbishop Sharp stycas in the Morton and Eden auction, I've never been particularly interested in the provenance of an old collection, the coin itself has always been my major concern. I may be wrong on that but that's always been my approach. Of course, all provenances interest me but the coin itself comes first.
What about the Aethelwald 'Moll' / Archbishop Ecgberht sceat, at DNW's recent auction? £13,000 hammer price, that's one I'm extremely unlikely to ever get an example of.
SEASONS GREETINGS.

 

A reasonably decent coin, well at least the finest of the three known. It was on my radar but realistically I did not expect it to sell anywhere near the estimate. Which it did not. Between this coin and the Eardwulf sceat recenty sold by CNG, it seems that there is some renewed and serious interest in this otherwise fairly sleepy and underappreciated series. Some people might see a price of 13k for the finest known of three coins to be a tremendous bargain, others might be appalled. I am not sure where I stand there, suffice to say the coin was out of my current budget.

Happy holidays!

 

Thank you for sharing your wonderful coins and their history.