I regularly use the online EMC hosted by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge to record any early medieval coins I find and as a visual reference when trying to identify such coins. However, I was wondering what percentage of such coins in personal collections ever get recorded in the EMC. I always thought that low numbers recorded was indicative of a coins rarity, but that might not be the case if many haven't been recorded. I would be interested in your views on this. My rarest entry in the EMC is a Henry 1st type x penny minted by ANDERAM at Leicester (ANDERAM ON LEI) with NL ligated. Prior to my find, ANDERAM was unknown as a moneyer. Its reference is EMC 2000.0078. Another example has surfaced since then. On visiting the museum to show my penny to Dr Martin Allan, I was fortunate to meet Mr Bill Conte, the owner of the best Henry 1st collection ever formed. He was visiting the museum with the aim of selling his collection to the museum with the aid of a National Lottery grant.
I've never heard of this site, so I poked around a bit. Very interesting! I don't own many medieval coins, I think only two. I think it's really neat how people report their finds.
The EMC is a great repository of information on early medieval coins. I used it recently to help me identify 2 cut quarters of Ethelred 2nd that I found with my detector. One was a long cross type and the other a helmet type. I have since recorded my finds on the EMC.
If you haven't seen them yet, I highly recomend getting books from the Medieval European Coinage series for your library. I have volume 1 and 8 for early Middle ages. Both catalogue the Fitzwilliam collections. For a coin of Henry I, though, that would be in a different volume, since that is not early middle ages.
Those books look interesting. Personally, I tend to buy the Spinks coins every few years (both the English and Scotland and Ireland versions) and the occasional book on artifacts. However, my local metal detecting club buys more specialised books for members to borrow. I will mention those you listed as potential future purchases. On the subject of the Middle Ages, our detecting club has been finding some pretty spectacular finds from the 6th to 8th centuries at a farm we visit periodically. Apart from a few roman coins, the field in question had not produced anything saxon until I found a saxon s ilver strapend. On subsequent visits a stream of amazing finds appeared. We suspect that the finds relate to the burial of a royal figure who took part in the Battle of Dyrham in 577AD. The battle is believed to have taken place about half a mile from the field where the finds were made. We suspect that key figures killed in the battle were taken to the field for burial along with their grave goods.
