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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Conduitt, post: 7286172, member: 109923&quot;]Last week, Spink held the much-delayed auction of <i>The Tony Abramson Collection of Dark Age Coins</i>. Dr Abramson is a well-known expert on early Saxon coins, published by Spink, including his well-illustrated <i>Sceatta List</i>. He was selling his collection because his “rate of acquisition dropped” and he’d reached a plateau. He said he’d become detached from his coins on account of them being in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge – a problem I wouldn’t mind having!</p><p><br /></p><p>He was going to leave them at the museum, but museums are less interested in physical coins now images can be studied online, and their budgets don’t stretch far in any case. Instead, he thought selling them might generate interest in a neglected period. That it did.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Secondary Series Type 70 Saltire Cross Sceat, 710-760</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1275728[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Silver, 0.79g. Obverse: Linear saltire with pellet ends, in beaded standard, tufa above, chevrons at other sides. Reverse: Beaded standard containing mirrored angular symbols around central annulet, chevron left, cross pommée to other sides. (SL 13-160; SCBI 69, 731 this coin; North 55; Spink 833B). </b>Provenance: K Chapman, June 2012. Found near Papworth &#039;Site 2&#039;, Cambridgeshire on 9 March 2011 (EMC 2011.0063 = BNJ Coin Register 2013, A.71). I have no idea for whom these were struck, but they are found in eastern England.</p><p><br /></p><p>Needless to say, the auction was keenly awaited (including by me). But I hadn’t realised how keenly. Particularly for good condition silver, the fashionably-low estimates were not so much exceeded as blown away – some by as much as 50 times. You know when you’re in trouble when the auctioneer says things like: “I’ve never seen that before,” “forget those estimates”, “Tony will be smiling,” and “you really can write yourself to a fortune”. He had to compose himself when one lot rocketed through 30 or 40 bid increments in a second. But there were so many bids he begged us to bid quicker on the 576 lots so they might finish before midnight. They did, closing before 11pm – having started at 10am.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Eanred Sceat, 810-841</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1275731[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Northumbria. Tertiary phase. 0.77g. Obverse: +EAHRED REX, unbarred As. Reverse: VVLFHEARD (Wulfheard moneyer), central motif (1/1) (SL 86.5-120, SCBI 69, 944 this coin; North 186; Spink 860). </b>Provenance: P Revell, January 2012. Nothing is known of Eanred beyond his coins. His father Eardwulf was deposed by Ælfwald in 806 but restored to power by Charlemagne and the Pope.</p><p><br /></p><p>Series B and C sceatas went for 3 or 4 times what I’d paid for similar in the past. My first target, estimated at £500-800, went for £3,500. I passed on a couple of interesting lots waiting for a Northumbrian sceat valued at £30-50 – and lost it to a £1,600 bid. The tone of the auction changed from ‘buy some great quality and rare Saxon sceatas and stycas’ to ‘buy anything Saxon from Tony Abramson’.</p><p><br /></p><p>Was that a bad thing? One thing I can say is the references and provenances (“important to American collectors”, apparently) were better than I’ve seen at any other auction. Find sites and previous owners were named (no ‘the property of a gentleman’). Many were plate coins. And, of course, each had been studied by one of the preeminent experts in the coinage, who wrote some of the many references provided. The premium for that was clear.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Secondary Series O Type 40 Sceat, 710-760</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1275730[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Silver, 1.05g. Obverse: figure facing, wearing long tunic, long cross pommée at either side. Reverse: Monster in flight left, looking back, gaping jaws, crest, raised tail, clawed foot below; foreleg raised above head (SL 55-10 plate coin; SCBI 69, 598 this coin; North 114; Spink 807B plate coin).</b> Provenance: Acquired privately from finder, January 2007. Metal detector find near Wetwang, East Yorkshire, late 2006 (EMC 2008.0064 = BNJ Coin Register 2008, no. 160). The coin pre-dates the intriguing name of the find spot, which derives from Old Norse vaett-vangr, &#039;field for the trial of a legal action&#039;. The Vikings first arrived in 793.</p><p><br /></p><p>Was the interest in the auction a surprise? Early Saxon coins are small, crude and difficult to collect. They don’t come up often, they’re unattributed and you can’t put them into a chronological sequence. You have little idea which coins relate to what, who or when. They’re called things like ‘Type 70’ from ‘Series O’ (which then gets called ‘the TV aerial type’) and are associated with very approximate parts of England simply by where they’re most found.</p><p><br /></p><p>With early Saxons, you have to resort to collecting themes (e.g. ‘beasts’) or those from a particular region, or perhaps one of each in Stuart Rigold&#039;s alphabetical series list. Whichever you do it&#039;s always fearing experts like Dr Abramson might change their minds and re-classify them. The Northumbrian issues do name rulers, but these are later, contemporaneous with the bigger, flatter silver pennies of Offa of Mercia (757-796), who very much did put his name on coins (in big letters).</p><p><br /></p><p><b><b>Æthelred II Styca, 841-850</b></b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]1275729[/ATTACH]</b></p><p><b><b>Northumbria. Phase IIciii. 1.00g. Obverse: +EDILRED REX. Reverse: +EANRED (Eanred moneyer), central motif (6/6f) (SCBI 69, 957 this coin; North 188; Spink 865).</b></b> Provenance: L Chaplin, April 2011. Reportedly found in Yorkshire. Unlike the famous Æthelred II the Unready of all England (966-1016), Æthelred II of Northumbria is known pretty much only by his coins. The silver sceat, which had gradually been degraded, was replaced by the copper styca during Eanred&#039;s reign. Coins were mainly used for external trade and taxes, but “as the metallic value of the coinage fell, the volume increased [to hundreds of thousands] and smaller transactions were settled in coin”.</p><p><br /></p><p>This, though, is the attraction of early Saxon coins. We know very little at all about the centuries during the Migration Period or just after. If it wasn’t for the Venerable Bede (a Northumbrian monk known as the Father of English History who died in 735) and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (historical material collated in the 890s) we’d know close to nothing. The coins of the time reflect this mysteriousness. Christian symbols mix seamlessly with fantastical creatures in an age when pagan, Christian, Roman, Pre-Roman and Anglo-Saxon cultures merged to create the English people.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Secondary Series L Type 15 Hwiccian-style Sceat, 710-760</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1275732[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>London. Silver, 0.7g. Possibly imitative. Obverse: diademed and jewellery draped bust right, rounded folds, wreath-ties unknotted, long cross pommée before, pellet on shaft. Reverse: long-armed, figure facing, feet turned outward, wearing plain robe, holding long cross pommée either side, pellet on shaft of cross (SL 35-20 plate coin; Abramson, 2012b, Fig 1a; SCBI 69, 489 this coin).</b> Provenance: D Glover, June 2005. Reportedly found near Cambridge. The “naïve standard of engraving” of early Saxon coins left them “open to counterfeiting, both contemporary and modern” – another reason Dr Abramson’s impeccably-provenanced coins were popular.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, with multiple world records broken in the bidding, I didn’t come away with a large haul. Nor did I get any of my first or even second choices. But the fun of Saxon coins is that they’re intriguing rather than beautiful, and these are certainly that. And while a few lots went for £30,000 or more, many were affordable – unlike in other recent Saxon coin auctions. Dr Abramson is a collector turned academic, not a wealthy investor, and many coins were fascinating rather than pretty. Those are my kind of coins! I think he’s achieved his aim of making Saxon coins more accessible, both through his work and in selling his collection.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Sources:</b></p><p>The Spink Auction Part I: <a href="https://live.spink.com/auctions/4-1TJZUD/21000-the-tony-abramson-collection-of-dark-age-coinage-part-i-conducted-behind-closed-doors" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://live.spink.com/auctions/4-1TJZUD/21000-the-tony-abramson-collection-of-dark-age-coinage-part-i-conducted-behind-closed-doors" rel="nofollow">https://live.spink.com/auctions/4-1TJZUD/21000-the-tony-abramson-collection-of-dark-age-coinage-part-i-conducted-behind-closed-doors</a></p><p>The Spink Auction Part II (Northumbrian): <a href="https://live.spink.com/auctions/4-1VFH3S/21050-the-tony-abramson-collection-of-dark-age-coins-part-ii-northumbria" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://live.spink.com/auctions/4-1VFH3S/21050-the-tony-abramson-collection-of-dark-age-coins-part-ii-northumbria" rel="nofollow">https://live.spink.com/auctions/4-1VFH3S/21050-the-tony-abramson-collection-of-dark-age-coins-part-ii-northumbria</a></p><p>Interview with Tony Abramson about the sale: <a href="https://insider.spink.com/2020/07/23/conversation-with-dr-tony-abramson/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://insider.spink.com/2020/07/23/conversation-with-dr-tony-abramson/" rel="nofollow">https://insider.spink.com/2020/07/23/conversation-with-dr-tony-abramson/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>An introduction to Sceatas: <a href="https://www.coin-links.net/Sceats.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.coin-links.net/Sceats.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.coin-links.net/Sceats.html</a></p><p>A good thread on Saxon coins by [USER=73099]@Nap[/USER] <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-sceattas-of-early-anglo-saxon-england.316733/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-sceattas-of-early-anglo-saxon-england.316733/">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-sceattas-of-early-anglo-saxon-england.316733/</a></p><p>Or look for anything posted by [USER=100731]@Roerbakmix[/USER] <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/yet-another-top-10-roerbakmixs-haul-of-2020.372322/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/yet-another-top-10-roerbakmixs-haul-of-2020.372322/">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/yet-another-top-10-roerbakmixs-haul-of-2020.372322/</a></p><p>and <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/one-year-of-sceatta-collecting.367999/#post-4930396" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/one-year-of-sceatta-collecting.367999/#post-4930396">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/one-year-of-sceatta-collecting.367999/#post-4930396</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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