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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;sylvester, post: 74541, member: 708&quot;]It is a replica, sold by the Jorvic Viking Centre in York, England. (It is a blend of Saxon and Viking coins, the obverse is from an Anglo-Saxon coin, and the reverse is from a coin of the Viking kingdom of York). The Viking Centre is well worth a visit, it&#039;s kind of like a museum, but one of those recreational types, you go in and your in Viking York, it looks viking and boy does it stink Viking. (Smells just like it would have done if you were throwing stuff in the streets and never had a wash).</p><p><br /></p><p>The obverse is taken from an Æthelstan penny. Æthelstan (924-39) was not content with merely referring to himself as the king of the whole of England (as his father and grandfather had done), which was a dubious title in itself. But he decided he was the King of the whole of Britain (REX TOT BRIT), it was an argument he could kind of prove. The most powerful of the Welsh princes were paying homage to Æthelstan at his court, and after his victorious defeat of the Scots/Viking army at Brunanburgh in 927, he had proved he was the dominant king on the entire island.</p><p><br /></p><p>The reverse is the Viking aspect. Notice the sword like that on the Eric Bloodaxe penny pictured in the post above (Eric was king of York in the 940s). But you&#039;ll also notice that in England in this period there was a plurality of religions, you&#039;ll note about the sword is a Christian cross, whilst below the sword is the hammer of Thor.</p><p><br /></p><p>Christians and followers of the Scandinavian religion lived side by side. Indeed not only is this found on the coinage but also in archaeological evidence. Some moulds for casting jewellry have been found. One of these moulds had a cross at one end and a hammer at the other end. Obviously the craftsman had customers from both religions.</p><p><br /></p><p>Generally though in the North of England (Yorkshire, the North East and parts of Lincolnshire) paganism was the rule of the day, in the Danelaw Viking customs prevailed. Whereas in the South and Midlands Christanity was the dominant if only religion.</p><p><br /></p><p>York particularly had been a kingdom in itself, and it&#039;s from the Scandinavian Jorvik that the modern name comes from. (The Latin and Christian name was Eboraci).[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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