Normans and Angevins

Presentation and Analysis of a Henry I Overstrike Penny – Lyle Curtis Molina

The purpose of this research note is to present a description and analysis of a Norman penny from the reign of Henry I, which exhibits a Type V overstruck upon a Type IV.  While this overstrike does not challenge the currently accepted order of coins of Henry I’s reign, it may present unrecorded examples of Mint/Moneyer combinations for both the Type IV and Type V strikes.

Revisiting Some Unusual Edward I Class 1c Pennies – Gary Oddie

A few years ago Dave Greenhalgh published a blog about some unusual reverse dies of Edward I Class 1c pennies. Three examples of reverse dies were presented where the beaded inner circle was misaligned relative to the die sinker’s circular guideline. It was hypothesized that this could be an error or a privy mark of a particular die sinker. These suggestions just didn’t “feel right”. In this note I would like to suggest an alternative and simpler hypothesis – that a single curved punch bearing the beaded quarter circle was used to create the sections of the beaded inner circle. When entered incorrectly, the beaded inner circle is misaligned relative to the guideline. A further example from Berwick-upon-Tweed will be presented to support this hypothesis. The hypothesis is also testable on other reverse dies.

The Numismatic Value Double Struck Coins can Provide (A Reattribution and an Attribution of two Norman Coins) – Lyle Curtis Molina

This research note follows upon the author’s first research note published December 18, 2024, on the BNS blog, and its purpose is to demonstrate that even coins with some form of double striking error can still provide valuable information.  This research note will examine two coins which exhibit a form of strike error associated with double striking and will add additional Moneyer and mint combinations to the corpus of the “Mints and Moneyers of England, 1066 – 1158.”

An Analysis of Strike Error Coins – Lyle Curtis Molina

The purpose of this research note is to provide some guidance and structure for beginning numismatists of British hammered coinage who find an interest with some form of striking error within the Anglo-Saxon and Noman series.  The scope of this research note is to: 1) provide examples of strike errors to illustrate aspects to keep an eye out for when examining a coin; 2) provide a framework to help analyse strike errors; and 3) demonstrate practical application of this framework.

The Identification of an Enigmatic 12th Century Penny – Robert Page

In April 2024 a unique coin was found near Gloucester and was subsequently recorded via both the PAS and the EMC. In both databases it is listed as a variety of Henry I Type 9; this identification being based on review of the coin by Dr Martin Allen, whose concise note on the coin will be forthcoming in the next volume of the BNJ. In this article I will highlight some interesting points concerning the coin and will suggest a possible alternate identification for this enigmatic penny.

An Early Norman Period ‘Productive site’ in Norfolk – Mike Cuddeford

Early medieval ‘productive’ sites are well known, but usually feature coins from the ‘sceatta’ series. Later broad-flan pennies are much scarcer and it is not until the late 12th century that multiple site finds tend to occur. This article places on a record a group of coins that, most unusually, appear to indicate an early Norman period ‘productive’ site and as such is noteworthy.

A Day at the Museum – Part (i) The Search for the Lesser Elongated Squirrel

On 25 July 2023, the author and two members of the Bedford Numismatic Society visited Wardown House Museum and Gallery, in Luton. The “behind the scenes” visit had two main motives. Firstly, inspection and photography of the Museum’s collection of Bedfordshire tokens and also to work through the museum’s holdings of Anglo-Saxon and Norman pennies struck at the Bedford Mint.A follow-up visit to the Stockwood Discovery Centre on 15 August was arranged to view the Bedford Mint pennies, on permanent display there, and also to help the museum with the safe relocation of the Shillington hoard of 127 gold aurei found in 1998 and 1999. This will be written up in a separate Blog. Whilst on site the opportunity was taken to make an elongated penny using a machine in the visitor centre to be described here.