It's an addiction ... yet another sceatta

Last week, I visited my parents, in the North of the Netherlands. My route from the coastal region in the West of our small country is more or less the Frisia region (Frisia Magna):


As per usual routine, even when visiting my parents, I check my regular sources for interesting coins. Nothing interesting popped up, until I checked my search string for Frisian coins (e.g. sceatta's, thrysma's, etc.): in a small city in Friesland (the relatively small remainder of Frisia Magna), a seller with a typical Frisian name offered a small collection of Frisian coins. One of those coins was a sceatta series E, variety G, with a nice black patina and a test cut (I like those test cuts. It decreases the value a bit, but adds historical significance - later more). According to the seller, it was found in Friesland as well (though the finder didn't want to disclose the exact findspot).

Now some of you might have noticed my weak spot for sceatta's. These small silver coins, weighing between 0.7 (usually for single finds) to 1.2 grams with a diameter of ca. 10-13mm (most are around 11.5mm) are a topic of debate for the last few decades. Little is known with certainty. For example, of the staggering diversity of designs (grouped into series), with even more subtle and less subtle differences in these designs (grouped into varieties and even sub-varieties), only a handful come with a legend - of which the meaning is largely uncertain. Living in the Netherlands, I largely focus on sceatta's minted on the continent (ie series D, E and possibly: series G, the 'wodan monster' types, and a few others), with mint locations ranging from the coastal region of France to Danmark. Sceatta's were likely used primarily for trading, and stray finds of sceattas that were likely minted in England are found in the Netherlands, and vise versa, thus sparkling discussions on mint locations. Thus, debate on most sceatta's is ongoing, but two impressive studies on the series D and E have been at least solidified the standpoint that these two series were minted on the continent (metcalf&opdenvelde, Jaarboek voor Munten en Penningkunde - studies in English though):

The Serie D
https://jaarboekvoormuntenpenningkunde.nl/jaarboek/2003/2003a.pdf
The Serie E
https://jaarboekvoormuntenpenningkunde.nl/jaarboek/2009/2009a.pdf
https://jaarboekvoormuntenpenningkunde.nl/jaarboek/2010/2010a.pdf

So back to my journey through Frisia Magna. Surprisingly, the seller lived in a small village nearby: only ten minutes by car (though I must say, in the Netherlands, everything is nearby. The longest distance between the most upper city (Groningen) and lowest city (Maastricht) is only about 330 km). So with my two babbling kids on the back seat, I drove through an idyllic landscape (not my photo's):


... I mean: this is nice, isn't it? Sadly, I did not see the typical Terpen that can be found in Friesland and Groningen. Several (around 150) of them remain, scattered around the Frisia Magma territories.

Now, what are Terpen? Basically, a terp (or thorp, the dutch variant of the Germanic thaurp, similar to the current Dutch word for dorp, which translates to village) is an artifically dwelling mound that has been created to provide safe ground during storm surges, high tides and river flooding. Made from rubbish and personal waste over centuries, these Terpen could reach a height of up to 15 meters after centuries. The first Terpen where constructed ~500 BC, but following the sea level rise and migration periods in the fourth century AD, most were abandoned.

... a Terp. Sadly, many Terpen were destroyed in the years c.1850-1950, because of the fertile ground these Terpen contained. In fact, my grandfather, who was a skipper, regularly transported this Terpaarde (fertile ground from Terpen). Though many exciting treasures were found, e.g. this one from Wieuwerd:

... many were likely lost, and the historical context destroyed.

After about 150-200 year (550-600 AD), an influx of immigrants, likely from Denmark, inhabited these empty Terpen and formed, together with the remaining Friezen, a strong counter force for the expanding Frankish territory. In the period of c. 650-750 (the period of interest of this post), three main coin types were minted: thrysma (an imitation of the Merovingian tremisses. c 630-650), which gradually debased to the pale thrysma (containing about 35% of gold in 655), and finally, in c. 675 was superseded by the sceatta - all of more or less the same diameter but with decreasing weight due to decreasing concentrations of gold.

After the death of the legendary King Redbad (Rêdbêd) (c. 680-719), the independence of Friesland came to an end, and Frisia became part of the Frankish empire. During the reign of this king (though even this title may be disputed), this sceatta was minted:

ANGLO-SAXON, Anonymous. Denomination: AR Sceatta (series E, variety G), minted: Frisia; 690-720
Obv: 'Porcupine' figure with small triangular beak, distal end not attached to spine. Spine is relatively broad and course, with nine spikes (ending in pellets( not attached. Distal end of spine (between the ends of the beak), a pellet. Three bellets at tip of the beak, below the spine. Under spine and parallel to the distal end of the beak, a standard with two pellets.
Rev: Square standard of line with dots, inside pellet within annulet, horizontal line above and below ending in dots on each side.
Weight: 1.16g; Ø:12mm. Catalogue: No diematch in The Monetary Economy of the Netherlands, c. 690 - c. 760 and the Trade with England: A Study of the 'Porcupine' Sceattas of Series E. Provenance: Found in Friesland; acq.: 07-2020

As mentioned, he reverse shows a test scratch. This is unusual for sceattas. However, in a recent (2011) hoard near the village of Cothen (near Dorestatvs), 66 out of the 72 sceatta's in this hoard had test cuts on the obverse. Metcal and Opdenvelde hypothesize that test-cutting was a northern phenomonen, and "... presumably with the same sort of political and social context as the very widespread peck-marking of Viking Age coins found in Scandinavia." JMP 2014 - The Cothen hoard of porcupine sceattas and Merovingian deniers.
https://jaarboekvoormuntenpenningkunde.nl/jaarboek/2014/2014-101b.pdf

So, in a nutshell, some background on Sceatta's and Frisians. I bought another coin of the same seller, which I will post later (spoiler: it's not a sceatta!)

 

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Enjoyed your treatise and the pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

Excellent post, thanks. Looks like some beautiful landscapes along with a handsome coin.

I want to add some sceattas from Britain to my collection at some point, just need the stars to align so that budget and opportunity collide.

 

@Roerbakmix, what a great story and complementing photos of the Frisian countryside.

I have a sceatta in my collection, but unfortunately it hasn’t received the attention it deserves. Thanks to your post I will be pulling it out this weekend to study it in more detail. I hope you don’t mind if I end up seeking some mint attribution advice from you if I get stuck?

 

@Egry, please post them, either by starting a new thread or in this thread. There is a very comprehensive sceatta thread as well (initiated by @Nab who owns a super impressive sceatta collection) - just search for sceatta and his(her?) name.

 

Lovely write-up @Roerbakmix! Lovely coin too.

 

Interesting write up, thanks for sharing!

 

Roerbakmix, it's hard to know where to start. A resonantly enlightening, immersively engaging, and generally brilliant post. ...Not least your skill in marshalling all of the divergent information and media. From here, the historical background, with the maps, was just what the doctor ordered for this context.
...Right, the coin is great, too! Both for how it can be dated with this level of precision, and to this coolly late period.

 

Nice coin and write-up.

I do love the sceattas, the variety of early medieval imagery is so evocative of this period.

 

@Roerbakmix for twisting my rubber arm, I was hesitant to share until I researched a bit more on my own, but a friendly message from a fellow CT’er has resulted in the post below.

This is my only sceatta, I know nothing about it other than it’s possibly from Frisia. I was told by the person I purchased it from that the image on these coins are probably a result of crude copies of the Constantine coins where a She-wolf is suckling Romulus and Remus, I have no idea if this is true though. But this is something similar you see with the horse on Celtic copies of Philip II tetradracms. Initially the horse looks good then after about 200 years it appears More like something out of a Tim Burton movie

Any history or information would be more than appreciated.

 

@Egry, that's a lovely Series E 'porpcupine' sceatta. Though I don't have my literature with me at this moment, I am fairly sure that it's a Series E, variety G.

I played around a bit to rotate the coin to the right position (that is, we obviously have no idea, but this is the convention).

On the obverse, you see a 'porcupine'. Obviously, it's not a porcupine because these do not live in the area where this coin (Frisia, current the Netherlands, near the coastal region) was minted (between 700-720 AD). But to avoid unfounded speculations, the late Prof. Metcalf (I believe) coined the term porcupine. The spikes are not attached to the body (they usually aren't) and end in dots (as usual). The beak (the triangle attached to the spine) is attached with both arms, which is not the case in the very similar variety E (which is probably minted a bit later).
At the sharp end of the beak, there are three pellets. Below the beak, there is a standard with a roman X (cross-pommee).

On the reverse, we see the typical standard with a central pellet-within-annulet, flanked by four lines ending in a dot, all within a dotted border.
On the outside are the largely off-centered runic (?) legends or, as often, garbled ineligible legends.

The coin is in a nice state of preservation! It should weigh approx. 1.1-1.2 grams, and the diameter should be around 11-13 mm.

* EDIT:
It's indeed a series E variety G, of which there are four varieties (yours is G1):

Metcal and Opdenvelde grouped the variety G (together with the plumed bird, the VICO and variety D) as primary phase sceatta's. There are three phases: primary, secondary and tertiary - with the date of the primary phase as per convention at c. 680-720. So a bit earlier than mentioned above.
https://jaarboekvoormuntenpenningkunde.nl/jaarboek/2009/2009a.pdf (var G from page 28 and further)

if you want, you can try to find a die match:
https://jaarboekvoormuntenpenningkunde.nl/jaarboek/2010/2010a.pdf
page 418 and further

 

And here are my series E variety G and for good measure, also the later (or imitative) variety E:


Variety G


Variety G (or E, not very sure)


Variety E (distal end of beak unattached to spine), also, very coarse spine. This is the coin in the post above, where I had classified it as a serie E variety G; I now believe it's a variety E.

 

Thank you for your very detailed analysis @Roerbakmix, if you don’t mind I’ll add it into my records.

Is the meaning of the symbolism truly lost to history?

 

yes, it is. There is very little Frisian written history before the Frankish conquest in c. 750 AD. The Franks were not very positive about the Frisians (though them as warriors), and the Frisian culture from a Frankish point of view was very unchristian, so little was written down and lost to history.

Regarding the porcupine: a (in my opinion) valid hypothesis is that a hoard of Celtic coins was found in c. 600's, and inspired the mint of the coinage of the dark ages for a while (in the period after the fall of the Roman empire to the coinage reform of the Franks in c. 750 with the introduction of the denar/penny).
Some sceats were also likely inspired by the Roman coinage, see e.g. this series A (or C?) sceat from Kent:

from the Metcalf & Opdenvelde source in my editted post above.

 

There’s a degree of degeneration that occurred with these portraits, that can be seen in the different types of the coins.

These degenerations could have happened relatively quickly in different geographic regions so several of these coins may have circulated at the same time.


Series A, among the earliest of sceattas.


Series C, follows series A. Facial features more angled and degenerated


Saroaldo type. Crowned head replaced by a diademed bushy haired bust. Angled facial features and neck similar to series C


Stepped cross/starburst series E variant. Now starting to lose facial features. You can see an eye and a nose but hardly looks like the ones above.


Facial features now lost on this Aethelred type. Thought to be of Aethelred of Mercia


Typical “porcupine” series E. The quilled creature is of course a degenerated face

All of these coins were produced in a fairly compact amount of time, between 680 and 720. The changes occurred relatively quickly.

 

If you have a deep interest in the subject, I could recommend:
The Iconography of Early Anglo-Saxon Coinage: Sixth to Eighth Centuries (Medieval History and Archaeology) by Anna Gannon.

 

@Roerbakmix - Absolutely enjoyed your writeup, coins, history, and pics. Wow. Thank you.

 

Thank you @Edessa , I'll look into it!

@Nab, that is (again) an impressive collection of sceatta's. Though your hypothesis is convincing, the plumed bird sceatta (from the primary phase according to Metcalf & Opdenvelde) can also be regarded as inspiration for the series E





Also

 

This one was in the post yesterday. It includes an interesting find location:

ANGLO-SAXON, Anonymous. Denomination: AR Sceatta (Series E, sub-variety E), minted: Frisia; 690-715 AD
Obv: Porcupine figure with 7 spikes ending in dots. Curved spine with on dot near the end. Below Roman numerical XII; pellets below II; before the X a >; below the X a V with a dot above.
Rev: Standard with central annulet, above a cross-pommee, on the right and left a V with a pellet on the inner side, below a curved v with a pellet on the inner side Weight: 0g; Ø:12mm. Catalogue: Conform die chain 1670-1672 (Metcalf & Op ten Velde (2010) (The Monetary Economy of the Netherlands, c. 690 - c. 760 and the Trade with England: A Study of the 'Porcupine' Sceattas of Series E)). Provenance: Found in Rinsumageest (near Dokkum, Friesland).; acq.: 08-2020

So this coin was found in Rinsumageest, a (very) small village in the north of Magna Frisia. In a source from the 8th century, a village Ringesheim, built upon a terp is mentioned. Unfortunately, this terp, as with many hundreds of others, was completely removed and the soil used as fertilizer elsewhere in the Netherlands.