Hello everyone, Here is another recent dug find. It's most likely going to be that of Henry III, but unlike with other reverse inscriptions I'm struggling to work out these letters! Is there 'anyone' who can shame me, and say, "Well obviously it reads..." I look forward to hearing from you.
Wow! Brilliant, thank you Kiaora. It explains why I couldn't get my head round the wording, I've never found a Gloucester penny before!
The obverse is one of the fun ones, too. At some relatively early interval (right, from 1247), the full legend goes, "hENRICVS REX III." Other classes use "TERTIO," but most leave out the numbering entirely. The issue is so distinctive that you can't miss who you're looking at.
Good call @Kiaora that is exactly the mint. The two letter combination NG is only found on pennies from the mint at Gloucester. Here is my example from the moneyer Roger.
(Just all the way back from work, on my Friday.) Congratulations on a Terrific half, @clanger! I'd rank it alongside the one of Carlisle that @TheRed gifted me once he found a full one. ...@TheRed, not fishing or anything, but congratulations on your magnificent full one! (Psst --he told me about his adventures finding one; it was a major coup.) With Angevin pennies of outlying mints, I always enjoy associating them with neighboring, contemporary castles. Best one for Gloucester has to be Berkeley. Not only was it the scene of the imprisonment and purported murder of Edward II; it was in continuous possession of the eponymous family back to the reign of Henry II --and the older parts, especially the shell keep, are just cool architecturally. http://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English sites/1186.html