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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;lordmarcovan, post: 3556878, member: 10461&quot;]Won this for exactly my maximum bid, without a shekel to spare.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=383486" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=383486" rel="nofollow">https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=383486</a></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]945549[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>It is nice to have an <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxons" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxons" rel="nofollow">Anglo-Saxon</a> coin again, since the departure of my <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/i-am-aethelred-this-is-why.305834/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/i-am-aethelred-this-is-why.305834/">Æthelred II penny</a>.&nbsp; This is only my second, and it is my first <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sceat" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sceat" rel="nofollow">sceat</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>I love the whimsical faces and bizarre birds and beasts on these little coins from the so-called &quot;Dark Ages&quot;.&nbsp; That term is not used so much anymore by scholars of European history, because &quot;dark&quot; carries negative connotations, and it is unfair to characterize the people of that era as entirely backwards,&nbsp; uncouth, and barbaric.</p><p><br /></p><p>I like the term, however, with no pejorative connotation intended, simply because to me it seems such a dark and mysterious period, tantalizingly obscured by the mists of time.&nbsp; I think it is safe to say that we know much less about the history of this time than we do the ancient Greco-Roman Classical period which preceded it.</p><p><br /></p><p>One charming thing about this coin is that it features an <i>ouroboros</i> on both sides, used as ornamental borders.&nbsp; The <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouroboros" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouroboros" rel="nofollow">ouroboros</a> is a very ancient mythological symbol used by many cultures, and depicts a serpent or dragon (in this case, the former) eating its own tail.</p><p><br /></p><p>This coin comes from around the time in which the <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf" rel="nofollow"><i>Beowulf</i></a> story was set, though it predates the manuscript of that poem by nearly three centuries.</p><p><br /></p><p>I like that it may have been struck somewhere in Essex, as that is the one part of the UK I have visited, during my 2013 detecting expedition.&nbsp; This is precisely the sort of thing I had hoped to find over there.&nbsp; I didn&#039;t, obviously, but had&nbsp; fun, and did find some <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/highlights-of-my-2013-metal-detecting-week-in-england.287138/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/highlights-of-my-2013-metal-detecting-week-in-england.287138/">interesting things</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>And now, though I didn&#039;t personally dig it, I have a tangible piece of Anglo-Saxon history from a dark and mysterious time, to hold in my hand and wonder about.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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