A coin recently spotted on a popular online auction site has been identified as a very rare continental imitation of a Henry III class 1a long cross penny. It was a Leicestershire metal detecting find and is a “cut half” which originated from the German town of Blomberg in Westphalia. It is not surprising that this continental imitation has been found in Leicestershire as the county had flourishing cloth and wool industries in the first half of the 13th century, and would have been involved in trade with the continent.
Author: BNS Blog Coordinator
A Small Parcel of Coins from the Oulton, Staffordshire Hoard of 1795 (CCH 266) – An Australian Connection – Steve Green
In 1795 a large hoard of over 1000 coins of Edward the Confessor and William I was unearthed in the orchard of Mr Shelley at Oulton, Staffordshire. Very little is known about the hoard other than there are no known Harold II coins and the William I coins are limited to BMC i and ii. P.H. Robinson contributed two articles to the Journal, the first in British Numismatic Journal Volume XXXVIII (1969), pp 24-30, The Stafford (1800) and Oulton (1795) Hoards and the second to the Miscellania section of Volume XLIX (1979). A small parcel of coins from the Oulton hoard which have been in the hands of the Shelley family since the 18th century has recently come to auction in Australia where members of the family have lived since the 1860’s. This parcel doubles the number of proven coins from the hoard.
Ceolbald of Northumbria: a new look at an old moneyer – Arthur Gran
A moneyer by the name of Eotberht was proposed in Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles, volume 68, as a new moneyer for the Northumbrian king Æethelred I. Another coin has now come to light on the Portable Antiquities Scheme which helps to shed some light on the identification of this “new” moneyer. From examination of the images and review of the die characteristics, it appears that Eotberht is not a new moneyer at all, but rather seems likely to be a new spelling for a known moneyer, Ceolbald. This article reviews some the coinage of Ceolbald and tries to draw some conclusions based on the available data. The coins of Ceolbald are discussed, along with some commentary on the rare “double obverse” coin of Æethelred I, which fits into this grouping and is also presumably a Ceolbald issue.
Expanding Cross Type: Single Finds on Early Medieval Coinage Site – Hugh Pagan
As readers of this blog will be aware, I am currently looking into the Expanding Cross type of Edward the Confessor, with a view to determining the relative chronological order of its Heavy and Light phases. Having already reviewed for the blog the evidence for the Expanding Cross type supplied by single finds reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) database, it seems to me that it would also be helpful to provide the numismatic community with a list of the single finds of coins of Expanding Cross type reported to the Early Medieval Coinage (EMC) site, with updated attributions and other relevant comment.
Edward the Confessor – Expanding Cross Type, Corrections to Entries in SCBI Volumes – Hugh Pagan
As indicated in previous notes for this blog, I have been looking into the evidence for the Expanding Cross type of Edward the Confessor, with a view to trying to determine the relative chronological order of its Light and Heavy phases, and it seems sensible to put on record such corrections to the descriptions of items in volumes published in the SCBI series as I have so far noticed.
A Hiberno-Scandinavian Penny Orphan Emerges From Obscurity By Evans C. Goodling
The author discusses a casual drop-in visit to a coin shop in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida about 1965 and an inquiry of the shop owner as to whether he had any early British coins for sale. He responded that his specialty was gold coins of the world, and that he had no early British coins, except possibly for a single unattributed piece which he brought out for examination, a hammered silver coin with a crude bust and blundered legends. The author, believing it might be an imitation of a Saxon-era penny, negotiated a purchase of the coin with the intention of setting it aside for further study. Later scrutiny with the help of a paper by Bernard Roth published in the BNS Journal Volume VI (1909) led the author to conclude that his orphan penny was the same coin or a die duplicate as No. 108 in Roth’s collection. Click here to read the article
A Second Find of a Rare Henry III Long Cross Class 2a/1b Mule – Robert Page
The first Henry III long cross class 2a/1b mule was discovered by a metal detectorist in 2006 and until recently was the only known specimen. This short article documents a second example of this rare class that was found by a detectorist in south Bedfordshire last year. If any reader knows of any additional examples the author would appreciate being informed. Please click here to read the article.
Portable Antiquities Scheme -Edward the Confessor – Expanding Cross Type – Hugh Pagan
As readers of a previous note by me on this blog will be aware, I am currently looking into the Expanding Cross type of Edward the Confessor, with a view to determining the relative chronological order of its Heavy and Light phases. In the process I have reviewed the evidence for the type supplied by coins reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, and it seems to me that it would be helpful to provide the numismatic community with a list of the coins concerned, with updated attributions and other relevant comment. If other readers of this blog with specialist knowledge of the issues of particular mints can assist with attributions for coins which I have so far failed to identify either in whole or in part, I would be most grateful. Click here to read the article
Edward III Florin coinage of Durham – The “VILA” reverse die – Denis Martin
The third coinage of Edward III, usually referred to as the Florin coinage, is a complex issue particularly so in the case of those coins produced at the Durham mint. This article focuses on a particularly puzzling reverse die, the VILA or Villa die, which has been shown to have been used in the period 1348 to 1351 towards the end of the series. The author has identified two VILA dies, described how they can be distinguished and produced a corpus of the coins known to him. Click here to access the article
Analysis of Cut 8 Reales Countermarked by Rothsay Mills – Eric C. Hodge
Countermarks are intriguing but when they are on cut portions of the original host coin then many additional questions arise. This note is to explore more about the cutting and countermarking of the 8 reales and what quantity of silver loss was experienced during the cutting process. Click here to read the article.
