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My first sceatta


Victrix

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Really nice coin with a full TIC on the obverse. I'm definitely in the camp believing the reverse is based on the Roman VOT coins. The Saxons got abstract pretty quickly.

Saxon Saltire Standard Type 70 Sceatta, 710-760
image.png.32c2e7b09042d83fdc9010ff3a012789.png
East Midlands. Silver, 0.79g. Linear saltire with pellet ends, in beaded standard, pellet in each angle, tufa above, chevrons at other sides, diagonals to corners. Beaded standard, with diagonal to each corner, containing mirrored angular symbols around central annulet, chevron left, cross pommée to other sides (S 833B; SCBI 69, 731 this coin). Ex Tony Abramson. Found near Papworth 'Site 2', Cambridgeshire, 2011 (EMC 2011.0063).

Edited by John Conduitt
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All the coins above are lovely. I have a handful of sceattas. This Northumbrian is probably my favourite.

Some years ago I bought a couple of Tony Abramson's books with the intention of collecting them seriously but it never quite happened.

 

Sceatta.jpg.89e0c4bccc48a2ea684e36ea092fca13.jpg

 

Kings of Northumbria, Eadberht.

Sceatta, 737-758 AD.

EADBERHTVS around small cross, beaded border surrounding both sides / stylized stag standing right

 N 177; S 847.

0.90g

 

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2 hours ago, Roerbakmix said:

Note that for the reverse, it’s common to rotate it 180 degrees

Thanks for clarifying that, it are the auction photo's :P. However on certain dies the banner has a cross on top of it so I feel like it can be either way, although that common theory might be the right one. Amazing pieces tho! 😄

vot.png

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12 minutes ago, IanG said:

Some years ago I bought a couple of Tony Abramson's books with the intention of collecting them seriously but it never quite happened.

Never too late 😄. I'm going to get some more anglo-saxon stuff as it provides me a fresh break from collecting solely roman/greek and the history is just as fascinating. 

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Good example.  Nice to start with series A, which is among the earliest silver Saxon coins.  Be careful, these little coins are addictive.  You may soon finding yourself looking for examples of series B to Z!

Here is my series A:

series-a-1b-i.jpg.490a01e651425a0f5bbca56b22296a9e.jpg

Edited by Nap
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1 hour ago, Nap said:

You may soon finding yourself looking for examples of series B to Z!

Haha I already am man! I'm mostly interested in the viking age but the ones that predate it are very interesting aswell. Kingdom of Kent was founded by settles from Jutland right? Wonderful coin you got there 😄

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3 hours ago, ValiantKnight said:

Anyone know what would be the easiest to obtain sceatta type minted in Britain itself? I’m not so interested in the continental types.

I would say either the series C or R sceattas likely from East Anglia, or maybe the series J from York.  If you include stycas, the stycas of Eanred and Aethelred II of Northumbria have been found in large number and are quite obtainable.

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5 hours ago, ValiantKnight said:

Anyone know what would be the easiest to obtain sceatta type minted in Britain itself? I’m not so interested in the continental types.

In general, you just need to avoid series D, E and X. A few others are still debated, like some F and G. Some of the types in J are British (maybe York) but others might not be.

A, B, C and Y (Northumbria) are as near to certainly British as you can be. L is meant to be London and H Hamwic. Many of the inscribed issues are British, like Pada.

The easiest to get are B, C, G, J, R and Northumbrian. A, K and N aren’t too bad.

Edited by John Conduitt
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On 3/31/2023 at 10:05 PM, ValiantKnight said:

Anyone know what would be the easiest to obtain sceatta type minted in Britain itself? I’m not so interested in the continental types.

As answered by @John Conduitt, avoid series D ("continental rune type"), series E ("porcupines"), series X ("wodan/monster", mint probably Danmark), series F (mint probably France), and series G (idem, probably France). Orphan types (e.g. the Herstal, the Zedelius or Maastricht type) are perhaps Merovingian. 

I'm considering to post a thread covering all my sceattas (now Series A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, N, R, X, herstal, Maastricht), with some background on each series. Would this be of interest to others as well? 

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4 minutes ago, Roerbakmix said:

As answered by @John Conduitt, avoid series D ("continental rune type"), series E ("porcupines"), series X ("wodan/monster", mint probably Danmark), series F (mint probably France), and series G (idem, probably France). Orphan types (e.g. the Herstal, the Zedelius or Maastricht type) are perhaps Merovingian. 

I'm considering to post a thread covering all my sceattas (now Series A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, N, R, X, herstal, Maastricht), with some background on each series. Would this be of interest to others as well? 

Yes it would. I was going to do the same but it is quite an undertaking to structure it well. Especially for series where it is difficult to be representative, or with the orphans. It would be nice to see.

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3 minutes ago, John Conduitt said:

Yes it would. I was going to do the same but it is quite an undertaking to structure it well. Especially for series where it is difficult to be representative, or with the orphans. It would be nice to see.

Thanks. I don't really have a plan. My collection of ~75 sceattas is structured using the old fashion (ie series A-Z and BMC types). Perhaps using Sceatta list types as as structure would be useful, but I'm not 100% sure I'd totally agree with that structure as well... 

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22 hours ago, John Conduitt said:

I'm considering to post a thread covering all my sceattas (now Series A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, N, R, X, herstal, Maastricht), with some background on each series.

Yes I'd be very interested in the british minted ones and to learn more about the types 🙂

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