'Hand Type' denars and pennies, early Salian and late Anglo-Saxon

[JeandAcre]

Much of this is cribbed from an OP in the old forum.  --Right, as someone here said, if you wrote it, you own it. 

This is a denar of Heinrich II (German king /emperor 1002-1024), of Deventer, in Frisia.  Replete with unmistakably Scandinavian 'peck marks,' reflecting the volume of Scandinavian trade across the Baltic, and into neighboring ports on the North Sea.

...Dannenberg 563. What follows includes the best rendering of the legends I've seen online.
Obv. King's hand, in a beaded sleeve. In field (right to left: RE / X.
HEINRIC [...] IMP [....].
Rev. [ostensibly; seeing it in hand will help:] DAVANTRIA.
Compare this to the Second Hand Type pennies of AEthelred II, c. 985-991. --Not Mine!!! This is from a Kunker auction of 2008, accessed via ACsearch.

Several things are cool about this. The convergence of a royal German imitation of AEthelred II (evoking 11th-c. Scandinavian imitations of the Long Cross type), from Frisia (vaguely corresponding to the Netherlands), with Scandinavian 'peck marks,' eloquently confirms the commercial relations between the later Vikings and the collective, Salian German polity. This in turn evokes a milieu in which the former were taking Danegeld on one side of the English Channel, and using it, by more consistently peaceful means, on the European mainland.
Another cool thing is the way in which AEthelred's prototype, with the Hand of God descending from clouds, and the Alpha and Omega in the fields, is replaced by the royal, sleeved hand, with 'REX' in the fields. This strikes me as almost ironic, since the earlier Salian kings and emperors, prominently including Heinrich II, were conspicuous patrons of the local clerical authorities.  (The foundation of the still very impressive cathedrals of Worms and Speyer --despite lots of restoration, from the 19th century-- dates to this period.)

...With that as background, I just landed this bad monkey, in an auction from someone who, by now, has become a dear friend.  (...Autism spectrum and everything, it's like, Look, if I pray for you and your family, that, by itself, Makes It So.)

And to crib the original auction listing (and, Yep, I Won't Blink about that, either):

"England. Aethelred II 978-1016. AR Penny (20mm, 1.79g, 12h). First Hand type (BMC iia, Hild. B1). London mint; moneyer Eadmund. Struck circa 979-985. + ÆÐELRED REX ANGLOX, diademed and draped bust right / +EADMVND M-O LVNDONI, hand of providence descending from clouds, dividing alpha and omega, Λ ω. BEH 2331 var; North 766. Peck marks. Very Fine."

Yes, it was gratifying to see the peck marks.  Especially as early as this is, relative both to AEthelred's reign, and the corresponding resurgence of Danish raids, beginning around 985.  (Thank you, culminating in the full-scale, royal, commensurately successful invasions of Svein Forkbeard and Cnut, over the following generation.)  I'm a fan of peck marks, as a distinctively Scandinavian practice.  They unfailingly add an entire ethnographic dimension to any given coin --whether late Anglo-Saxon; 11th-century, Salian German; or even, if you go back far enough, 9th-century Carolingian.  

Anyone is cordially invited to post any example of a coin imitating another one --yes, across the spectrum, ancient to modern-- or to do anything at all with the 11th century CE, across a comparable geographic range.  Not (at All) to discourage people who are already on this page, You Will Get Points for creativity!

.

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by JeandAcre

[Edessa]

Also a fan of peck marks. Sven's coins with Byzantine motifs and Long Cross.

Denmark. Sven Estridsen, AD 1047-1075. AR Penny. Lund mint. Obv: Two standing figures holding banner. Rev: Long cross dividing legend, crescents in second and third quarter. Ref: Bruun 1683. Very Fine and scarce. Ex Spink/Glendinning auction, 27 November 1974, lot 124. Ex-Baldwin's Auction 62-63, 29 Sept 2009, Lot 604. 

Denmark. Sven Estridsen, AD 1047-1075. AR Penny (1.10 gm). Lund mint. Obv: Christ enthroned facing. Rev: Long cross with two crescents. Ref: Hau.6. GVF, peck marks on reverse.

Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus with Romanus II, AD 913-959. AR Miliaresion (23mm, 3.20g). Constantinople mint struck AD 945-959. Obv: IhSYS XRI–StYS nICA; Cross crosslet on base and three steps, ornamented with X at intersection; below, small globe. Rev: + COҺST' τ'/ΠORFVROG,/CЄ ROmAҺO/ЄҺ X'ω EVSEЬ'/Ь' RωmEOҺ; in five lines. Ref: SB 1757; DOC 21. About Very Fine with peck marks.

[JeandAcre]

Just, Wow, @Edessa, I had exactly zero idea that even Byzantine silver coins were ever peck marked.  Thank you, it makes immediate, intuitive sense ...now that you mention it!  :<}  

And your examples of Sven Estridsen are kicking something or other all over the block.  ...Right, Sven and Harald Hardraada (of Stamford Bridge, 1066) fought a prolonged dynastic war over Denmark.  But not before Harald arrived back in Norway, with a record-breaking trove of Byzantine silver and gold, thanks to his remarkably successful career in the Varangian Guard.  To further wallow in the obvious, the numismatic influence of this clearly transcended the more immediate political boundaries.

I used to have a penning of Sven, nothing remotely on the level of either of yours, but no less obviously evincing the Byzantine coins that Dennark and Norway were awash in.

Edited August 29, 2022 by JeandAcre

[John Conduitt]

It's interesting so many coins are copies of something else. The Greeks copied the Lydians, the Romans the Greeks, the Celts the Romans. The Saxons regularly copied the Romans and Merovingians.

Series C1 Primary Phase Sceat, 690-715

Kent. Silver, 11.5mm, 1.27g. Radiate bust right on pyramidal neck; Λ behind; runic APA before. Standard with central annulet, Ts and Is in opposing angles; spray above, cross below (S 779).

The VOT/XX standard was copied from a Roman coin like this:

Constantine II Follis, 320Londinium. Bronze, 19mm, 3.07g. Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust left; CONSTANT-INVS IVN N C. Standard inscribed VOT/XX with captive seated on ground on either side; VIRTVS EXERCIT; PLN in exergue (RIC VII, 198).

Offa replaced those sceattas with copies of Charlemagne's reformed deniers, which were larger and flatter. Those became the English pennies that lasted another 800 years. He also copied Abassid gold dinars, but you have to go to the British Museum for those.

Offa Group II Light Coinage Cut Halfpenny, 780-792London. Silver, 16mm, 0.43g. OFFA with chevron-barred A (over REX), separated by line of pellets with forked ends; various pellets in the field. AEDEL (over PALD, moneyer Aethelweald), divided by line of pellets with forked ends; various pellets in the field (S 904).

The copying eventually went the other way, such as with Aethelred II. By the 1300s, the copies were so similar they were used in England too. Since these 'Lushbournes' (originally from Luxembourg) were lighter, they caused real problems for the English economy.

Louis IV of Bavaria Esterlin, 1325-1328

Aachen. Silver, 1.17g. Crowned bust facing; +LVDOVICVS⋮ROM⋮RЄX. Long cross pattée and pellets with eagle in first quadrant; MOn / ЄTA / AQVЄ / nSIS (Mayhew 332). A direct imitation of Edward III’s pennies.

Edward III Third Coinage Class 2 Penny, 1344-1351Tower. Silver, 18.5mm, 1.28g. Crowned bust facing, Lombardic Ns and annulet stops; +EDWA R ANGL DNS HYB. Reverse I: long cross and three pellets in each quarter, Lombardic Ns; CIVI-TAS-LON-DON (S 1544).

[Ursus]

This penny from Magdeburg imitates the common Otto-Adelheid-Pennies (my example below), which in turn draw on the design of the "Christiana religio"-coins of Louis the Pious:

Magdeburg, Imperial mint, "Saxon penny," probably issued under Otto III (r. 983–1002 AD) and Archbishop Giselher (984–1004 AD). Obv: ...I M I... (corrupted MAGADEBURG); "wooden church" with four pellets inside; three pellets to l. and r. Rev: ...EI°III... (corrupted IN NOMINE DNI AMEN), cross pattée. 16mm, 1.27g. Ref: Dannenberg 1330; Mehl 30; Kilger Mg HP 1; Slg Hauswaldt 14.

Otto III with Adelheid of Burgundy as regent (or immobilized under his successors), Holy Roman Empire, "Otto-Adelheid-Penny," 983/991– ca. 1050, probably Goslar mint. Obv: [+D]'I GR'A + R[EX], cross with OD[D]O in quadrangles. Rev: [A]TEAH[LHT]; "wooden church," pellet to right. 19mm, 1.39g. Hatz IV 5/6.