Nap

I have been working on a set of the travel coins. As far as I know, there are 28 locations that are depicted on Hadrian's imperial coins, that make up the "travel series". This includes the province type, adventus type, restitutor type, and exercitus type. The majority are in bronze, with some in gold and silver. Here are examples from my collection (apologies for the many pics and poor condition on some of the less common ones): Restitutor Achaea Aegyptos Africa Alexandria Restitutor Arabia Asia Restitutor Bithynia Britannia Cappadocia Dacia Restitutor Gallia Germania Hispania Italia Adventus Judaea Adventus Macedonia Mauretania Adventus Moesia Nilus Adventus Phrygia Exercitus Raetia Adventus Sicilia I am missing 6 locations- Cilicia, Dalmatia, Nicomedia, Noricum, Syria, and Thrace There is another location- Pannonia- which is only found on Aelius Caesar's coins. There are also the "Adventus Augustus" which show Hadrian with Roma and is clearly meant for Rome, and one that has no legend but has Tyche and Orontes on the reverse, clearly meant for Antioch (often seen on provincials, but this particular coin is an Imperial). These are "optional" additions, one could say. For many years it was thought that there was a type of Libya, but recent research has determined it was an altered or misinterpreted specimen.

Here is my Anglo-Saxon pseudo-coin brooch in the name of King Eadred, 946-955. I like to imagine it being worn by someone in King Eadred’s retinue who was on pilgrimage to Rome, but Maine-et-Loire is not on the standard pilgrimage route from England to Italy.

That is an absolutely beautiful example. Congrats on the acquisition! The interpretation is somewhat elusive. The end looks like DVS when reading clockwise. Could it be some sort of corruption of Toledo, imitating a Visigothic piece? "TVOLEDVS"? I have a pseudo-coin brooch in the name of King Eadred of Wessex, which interestingly was found in the region of Maine-et-Loire. I'll have to find a picture. These items are not very common and the literature is somewhat scattered. A new study of the pseudo-coin brooches is definitely needed!

Frank’s humor is on even more full display in his newsletters for the Albany Numismatic Society.

Great point. The Northumbrians would have seen themselves as Anglians, and the modern shorthand calling all Anglo-Saxon people "Saxons" would have felt horribly out of place in Northumbria, or Mercia for that matter. In the 8th century Offa would style himself "Rex Anglorum". In the early 9th century, Ecgberht, and Aethelwulf of Wessex styled themselves "Rex Saxoniorum" on their coins. They did not call themselves "Rex Anglorum". Even the forward-thinking Alfred did not style himself as "Rex Angolorum", although I believe he may have used "Rex Anglorum et Saxonum", suggesting an inherent difference in the populations. But this difference was likely political, rather than ethnic. The word 'England', is of course related to 'Anglia'. Saxons and Saxony ultimately were used to describe completely different things. Some of these words are modern constructs, and I think people today put way too much emphasis on historic and current names for people that are different. A person who lived from 1000-1070 would not have considered themselves an Anglo-Saxon, then an Anglo-Scandinavian, then an Anglo-Saxon again, and then a Norman, just because the leadership at the top changed a few times. Bede's description of the history of the "Anglorum" refers to not just the people descended from the Anglian tribes (Northumbrians, Mercians), but to all people of Germanic and Celtic descent living on the island of Britain. However Bede has much more source material available about his local folks than those elsewhere, and he's also human so there's a northern bias. I have heard about the language similarities between contemporary Old English and Old Norse, and while I studied Old English some years ago, I have no experience with Old Norse.

In his famous work, "Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum", or "The Ecclesiastical History of the English People", written around 730 (ironically long before there was a unified "England" or concept of nationhood), the Venerable Bede relates a number of stories, but one minor one has a small connection to coins. In the story, a hagiographic account of an early Christian saint, he describes a certain holy woman named Earcongota. This woman was the daughter of the king of Kent, Eorcenberht (reigned 640-665). She was sent to a monastery in France, and while she may not have had the life she desired, she also may have lived a better life than most medieval princesses. Little fact is known of her, but Bede remembers her as a holy woman who performed miracles. Standard fare for early medieval saints. But an interesting passage stands out for the student of numismatics. Earcongota was reaching the end of her life and had a vision. She saw men clad in white coming to her abbey, and when they were asked why they had come, these men replied that they had been sent to take the gold coin that had been sent from Kent. The gold coin, of course, is a metaphor, for Earcongota herself, a Kentish princess, and the men in white would presumably be otherworldly. But while gold is precious, the specific referral to a gold coin from Kent (ut aureum illud nomisma, quod eo de Cantia) rather than anything else made of precious metal, suggests that such a specific item would have been known to a contemporary of Bede himself. Bede did not live in Kent, but rather in the north of England in what was known as Northumbria. Kent and Northumbria were separate kingdoms, but trade between the kingdoms led to general acceptance of currency outside of the borders. As these events (Earcongota's life and death and the coinage) fell within his lifetime, Bede himself would probably have been aware of such a gold coin that was made in Kent. The first coins of Saxon England were indeed made of gold, produced in the late 6th century, and were imitations of Roman coins. A particularly significant piece names a bishop- Liudhard, who was the personal bishop to Queen Bertha of Kent, a Frankish princess, and wife of Aethelberht, king of Kent. This unique coin, mounted for suspension and probably more appropriately called a medalet rather than a coin, is in the British Museum. It is believed that Aethelberht and Bertha's son, Eadbald, introduced the circulating gold coinage of Kent some time in the 620s. The early coinage of Kent was in the form of gold tremisses, called thrymsas. It is frequently divided into phases, but this division is tricky. It is generally based on the gold purity and a very limited hoard evidence, but this too is problematic, something I will try to dig into later. The gold debasement tends to follow the Frankish coinage, though perhaps too much reliance is placed on this parallel evidence. However, for continuity with the literature, I will present the current understanding: Phase 1 (590-630) Higher weight solidus-type coins and a few early high gold purity tremissis-type coins (thrymsas) Phase 2 (630-650) Higher purity gold tremissis-type coins (thrymsas) Phase 3 (650-675) Lower purity gold tremissis-type coins (thrymsas) Phase 4 (680-750) Silver siliqua-type coins (sceattas) Immediately after the words come to the page, there are obvious problems. The nomenclature of sceattas, thrymsas, etc. are not contemporary. There were transitional periods such as between 675-680 where the same types were being manufactured in both gold and silver. Coins made outside of Kent, such as those from East Anglia and Northumbria, may not have followed the same phases of production. Certain varieties, produced from the same die pairs even, can vary greatly in their gold content. Only one major hoard of these coins is known, found nearly 200 years ago, and while study of the Crondall hoard is critical to the understanding of these coins, it has perhaps overly skewed our view on the potential origin and dating of the different varieties. But these limitations in the understanding do not limit the scholar and collector interest in these coins. English tremisses (thrymsas), sometimes called gold shillings are popular and ever more expensive to collect. They are found occasionally by metal detectorists, but remain overall very rare, with only a few hundred total known, with most being museum specimens. The majority of those known are also of the later debased coinage, while the earlier examples are often extremely rare, most with less than 10 known per variety, and some unique. Here is an example of one of the more common types, and a later variety. The so-called "two emperor" type, coping old Roman designs of the late 4th century. This coin falls into the 3rd phase of early Saxon coin production, from 650-675, that of the pale gold types, and with a fairly numerous amount of specimens (probably 50+) and many different dies known, this type might have been produced for a number of years. Some of this type were even made in nearly pure silver. Most likely, the two-emperor thrymsa, or a similar contemporary type, would have been the one referred to by Bede, as the "gold coin of Kent" metaphor. By the time that Venerable Bede was writing, the gold coinage in England was extinguished, in favor of the silver sceatta, in both Kent and Northumbria. But it was in living memory, much like 90% United States silver coinage remains in our memory, and Bede invokes its legacy as a reminder of something precious.

As mentioned, Scottish medieval coins are tougher than the contemporary English coins. The earlier pennies of William the Lion and Alexander III are much more common than the pennies of Alexander II, John Balliol, and Robert I. Pennies of David II and Robert II are a little easier. Pennies of Robert III and all the James' are also tough. Easier to find the groats. Medieval Scottish coins are a remarkably tough collection to build. Once you get to Mary Queen of Scots and James VI (James I of England) the coins become a bit easier. My Scottish collection is still missing a coin of Robert I (the Bruce). Also of Malcolm IV, which is nearly impossible to find. Here is a penny of John Balliol:

Very neat coin!

Here's a Richard penny, class 3a, and an Anglo-Gallic denier of Poitou

With the recent thread on Hiberno-Norse Viking era coinage, I wanted to share three of my favorite Viking coins, from medieval England. Viking penny in the name of Æthelstan II, 878-890 Moneyer: Judelberd (or Iudelberd) Mint: unknown S.956 N.479 O: +EL EL IA NV R: IVDEL . BERD Penny of Guthrum, Viking king of East Anglia, in his baptismal name of Aethelstan (slightly blundered), by moneyer Judelberd. Guthrum was one of the war chiefs of the Viking army that went a-plundering in the 870s, and conquering most of Saxon England, with the exception of Wessex. The Vikings stayed for years, but around 878 lost a critical battle at Eddington to Alfred of Wessex. Afterwards, a treaty was signed between Alfred and Guthrum, setting the boundaries of the Danelaw, and leading to a much needed, if slightly uneasy, peace. Guthrum converted to Christianity and took the baptismal name of Aethelstan. He is often styled 'Aethelstan II' to distinguish him from the previous Saxon ruler of East Anglia by that name. It is unknown whether Guthrum took his new religion particularly seriously, but he did stop attacking Wessex. He also issued coins in imitation of Alfred's two-line coins. These coins typically depict a blundered spelling of the name Aethelstan, typically "ED EL TA RE" or "ED EL IA NV". Mine is "EL EL IA NV". The reverse has the moneyers name in two lines. Some of the moneyers have Continental names and some have English names, typical for Danelaw coinage, and a feature also seen in the later St. Edmund Memorial coinage. Judelberd was presumably Continental. Blackburn in 2005 BNJ wrote on these coins, and noted 17 different moneyers on the reverse inscription (some of which may be imitative). Most are only known from a couple of coins at best. Using Warren Etsy's estimation formulae, he figured about 200 die pairs would have been produced. We tend to expect dies to be useful for at least 10000 coins each. Which implies a substantial coinage. 42(?) of these coins are known, not that rare for a Saxon type, but tiny compared to the total mintage (considering the number of known moneyers). More significantly, 75% of these are from the massive Cuerdale hoard, and the rest also mostly from hoards, with only 3 or 4 single finds known. Of the known coins, nearly all are in museums. In the early 20th century, there were a number in famous collections of the day, such as Montagu, Bruun, Grantley, and Ryan. All of these ultimately went into museum collections. So the only ones currently in private hands are the recent finds, of which there are three in the EMC- this one, one sold at CNG about 8 years ago, and a third which I've never seen (no picture on EMC). These coins are crude, and some may be imitative. They usually weigh about 20% less than the contemporary Wessex coins. There also is another type of Guthrum's coinage, imitating a Carolingian 'temple' type of Louis the Pious, but in the name of Aethelstan. There are also blundered copies of Alfred's coinage which are underweight and are thought to also originate in the Danelaw, suggesting either multiple coinage centers, or just very brief coinage type output with these different types in sequence. Crude, rare, and forgotten, but perhaps not forever- recently popular media has made Guthrum a more household name, as a character in Bernard Cornwell's books and in the TV shows 'The Last Kingdom' and 'Vikings'. Viking penny imitating Alfred, king of Wessex 871-899 Londonia type Moneyer: unknown Mint: unknown (probably East Anglia) S. 964 Viking imitation of the well-known 'Londonia' type struck for King Alfred. Alfred was the only king of England to carry the moniker 'the great', due to his success in saving his kingdom and people from destruction at the hands of the Vikings. This type copies the official penny of Alfred featuring the monogram of the city of London, which copies earlier monograms seen on Roman, Gothic, and Frankish coins. The original is believed to have been struck to commemorate the retaking of London from the Danes, ca. 886. This imitation presumably dates from a few years later. Alfred struck a peace treaty with Guthrum, warlord of the Danes, probably after retaking London. This established a boundary for Danish territory and brought some peace to England for a period. Presumably trade between the two peoples began, and the Danes started minting coins imitating the contemporary issues from Wessex. This particular coin is almost certainly a Viking imitation due to the crude style and low weight (1.2g). It was double struck about 10 degrees off, and as such the imagery is a little muddled, but still quite readable. Viking penny in the name of St. Peter of York ca. 910-920 Moneyer: unknown Mint: probably York S.1006 (var.) N.551 (var.) O: ZCIIIT R, tree and key symbols R: +B.RACEC This a rare variant of the "swordless" St. Peter coinage, with a blundered version of "Sancti Petri" in one line, instead of the usual two lines. Viking coinage in York began at around the start of the 10th century with a coinage in the names of Cnut and Siefred, a probably short-lived coinage but one which survives in great numbers due to the Cuerdale hoard. Subsequently, an anonymous coinage in the name of St. Peter follows, of which this coin is probably a late type. After the St. Peter coinage there was an inscribed coinage in the names of Ragnald and Sihtric Caech, Hiberno-Norse kings from Ireland who conquered Northumbria. A subsequent anonymous second coinage in 920s in the name of St. Peter features a sword (probably the Sword of Carlus, a 9th century Irish Viking hero), and Thor's hammer. The Vikings wrangled with the kings of Wessex throughout the 10th century until king Eadred of England brought Northumbria into the English fold. Viking coinage continued, mostly in the name of the kings of York, until the mid 10th century, culminating with Eric Bloodaxe. All Viking coinage from York is rare, but the Cnut, Siefred, and St. Peter coinages are the most common, due to their survival in several large hoards. The one-line St. Peter coins make up a rare subset of the earlier swordless type. There are only a handful known, and they all feature symbols, including the tree, the key (St. Peter's key to heaven), a candelabra, a star or propeller, and a large cross. The symbol on this coin is a little puzzling. It looks like a tree, really it looks very much like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. But the symbol of a tree really makes no sense in the context, plus the base does not look like roots. It also resembles an upside-down hammer. Upside down hammers are seen on other St. Peter coins, the sword types. But what are those crescents surrounding it? They look like branches but could they be waves, or something to suggest impact? The meaning will likely continue to elude me. This particular coin is a die match to a coin in the British Museum, BMC 1141, which was found in Geashill, Ireland.

I wish it were Sven Forkbeard. I think there are only 3 or 4 coins of his known, and I believe all in museums. There are a number of Anglo-Scandinavian coins called "time of Sven Forkbeard" which imitate Aethelred II but not in Sven's name. Brita Malmer investigated the chains of die sequences and assigns certain coins to Sven based on likely time of manufacture. But I would rather get one in Sven's name.

Medieval coins are sometimes nice for these sorts of errors, at certain times in history the quality control was very poor. Here is a flip over double strike penny of King John of England

Nice write up. Here is my coin of Sihtric “Silkbeard” Viking moneyer names are much more international. In Viking East Anglia, there were many moneyers of Frankish, Germanic, Scandinavian, and Saxon origin. Where as in England during roughly the same period the names are almost all Anglo-Saxon. Sihtric is poorly remembered today, while his adversary Brian Boru remains a legend in Irish cultural lore. Look forward to your discussion of Clontarf.

Pretty much all my coins are hammered. Here are a few famous Brits: William the Conqueror Richard III Henry VIII