Very unusual Anglo-Saxon coinage & why I stop caring about Rome here and pick up the Anglish cause

A coin's got speak to me and interest me to get my dollar. Used to be a time where I would just want coins from specific places, simply due to place regardless of time, circumstances or personalities (Holler if you hear me other one of every Augustus collectors!)



With the year 695 CE in Rome, and by this time when I say Rome, I mean Constantinople, ringing in what is referred to as "The 20s year anarchy". It makes for the start of when I stopped enjoying Gibbon's Rise and Fall and fealt more like it was strictly educational

(ignore the Dickens, that's me reading about the eastern empire during this time period)

Justinian II and leo 174 squabble with a bunch of wannabees. Very boring stuff... for me.


Then in the land of Angles at this time BEOWULF is written!!!



We get the excellent writings of beloved historian and theologian, Bede (672-735 CE). Later to be named St Bede the venerable:



The Viking attacks will begin and are just within 50 years of the horizon.


(this coins latest estimated mintage My coin is preViking)

Wihtred's reign begins in 692 CE, where he reestablishes the Kentish royal line.
And during a lengthy reign, for any king, stayed alive all the way until he wasn't... 725!
I loved the simple design and mystery that comes with the unique obverse. Why was it slate (some kind if middle finger to the ruler of the time)? And who attempted to make markings of a rosette (same person)??

Anglo-Saxon Coins - Continental Issues - Series D Type 2c - Obverse Erased Portrait Sceatta. 695-740 AD. Obv: original design erased and lightly engraved with five-leafed rosette. Rev: cross with pellet in angles and pseudo-legend. S. 792 (modified); N. 50 (ditto).0.62 grams.Property of a Hampshire, UK gentleman.
Fine. Very unusual. Ex Timeline

Would love to read from any of our posters that have knowledge in these areas thoughts and you know I wanna see those coins!

Or anything that beats the eastern Roman empire at this time (unless you actually have a Roman coin from this time period... didn't think so me neither)

 

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Well I can't accept all that dissin' of Byzantine history at the turn of the 8th century which is in fact SUPER AWESOME, but I will still contribute a coin to your thread because your new Anglo Saxon coin is cool and I'm that kinda guy. This is a Kentish sceat probably issued under Wihtred. (Another interesting tidbit about him: he may be a descendant of the famous though possibly legendary Hengist.) Note the snake eating its tail doubling as a dotted border around the cross & bird.



But to punish you for your misbehaviour, I will also drop in a gnarly contemporary Byzantine issue. This is Tiberius III overstruck on Leontius, and one of my favourite Byzantine folles. So there!

 

Woop woop, another sceatta collector! Welcome to the dark side

How your sceatta might have looked like:


On the other hand, there is no reason to assume that it's not, in fact, a series D BMC type 8 (this is probably a somewhat early version, with a neatly engraved cross):



Here's some light reading on the series D (Metcalf and Op den Velde):
https://jaarboekvoormuntenpenningkunde.nl/jaarboek/2003/2003a.pdf

And the series E:
https://jaarboekvoormuntenpenningkunde.nl/jaarboek/2009/2009a.pdf
https://jaarboekvoormuntenpenningkunde.nl/jaarboek/2010/2010a.pdf

 

Pretty cool coins. I need to pick up a couple of Anglo Saxon examples to commemorate the time of Beowulf, written in Old Frisian some scholars believe, a language with very close linguistic proximity to early English.