Grumpy Man Sceatta

[John Conduitt]

This Saxon sceat was given the catchy label 'Maastricht Interlace or Zedelius Type B Continental Phase Sceat,' although the former has been renamed the 'Interlace Cross type'.

These were used in England, and some were even made there. Probably. Numista labels all continental Anglo Saxon sceattas 'Frisia', but this type was seemingly made somewhere a little further south.

Interlace Cross Type Continental Phase Anglo Saxon Sceat, 695-740Northern Europe. Silver, 1.14g. Diademed bust left, exaggerated features, with striated hair and beaded neck, pellets before and in field, cross below, beaded border. Interlaced cross with pellet in each loop, beaded border (S 795; Abramson IV, 1062 this coin; SCBI 69, 307 this coin). Ex Tony Abramson; found with a metal detector in Essex, 2005 (EMC 2006.0270).

It was called the 'Maastricht Interlace' because it resembles an early Carolingian interlace denier from that area and is thought to be from the same mint. Maastricht is in the very south of the Netherlands on the Belgian border in what was the Frankish heartland. To be fair, Frisia was conquered by the Franks towards the end of the coin's date range, so perhaps the distinction is moot. Still, the 'interlace type' is often found in Belgium and thought to have been struck in the upper Meuse valley.

The earlier designs with naturalistic busts were inspired by Series G sceattas from Quentovic and Merovingian coins from Rouen. But the bust eventually morphed into what is described as a 'grotesquely degraded left facing head', as with this coin. Most interlace types are of the later, clumsier style, which Zedelius split into Type A (thick lines on the interlace) and Type B (thin lines). Some, or many, may have been cast imitations.

No such coins appear in hoards before 720, so the earlier date range seems unlikely. A range of 720-755 is more likely.

For more, see: The Circulation of Sceattas in the Southern Low Countries

If you have any Continental Phase sceatta, please post them.

Edited July 8, 2022 by John Conduitt

[JeandAcre]

Dang, @John Conduitt, looks as if, regarding this, you're summarily blowing everyone out of the water.  ...Just needed to acknowlege the obvious.

...I have exactly one sceat.  As such, far too broadly representative of the (multiple) series.  But no less emphatically on the level of a 'bucket list' coin.  As a UK detector find (granted, from the south), this is ostensibly English.  I needed it, that impressionistically, for the convergence of a residually radiate-crown profile (cf. later 3rd c. Roman) with the Dang, already Runic elements of the legend.  Along with the reverse, intentionally evoking 4th-century votive LRBs, with the sweetly illiterate attempt at something resembling a Latin legend.

From here, the combined effect has to evoke these folks' later cousins, the Vikings, especially in terms of their willingness to absorb the influence of whatever cultural (including numismatic) influence they bumped into in the course of their travels.  --Right, regardless of their level of fluency in the details of what they were looking at.  At least in this collective context, the attendant level of cultural openness, if not generosity, puts more recent rhetoric about 'appropriation' on a substantively different plane. 

Edited July 9, 2022 by JeandAcre

[John Conduitt]

17 hours ago, JeandAcre said:

I have exactly one sceat

It's a good representative of the primary series.

 

17 hours ago, JeandAcre said:

you're summarily blowing everyone out of the water

There are a couple of collectors on the forums who put my collection completely in the shade. But with Saxon coins, there are not huge numbers, which is a shame as they are intriguing (if mysterious) with some of the most inventive cross-cultural designs.

[UkrainiiVityaz]

I'd be grumpy as hell if I had a schnose that looked like that!  Cool looking coin though. 

[JeandAcre]

Many thanks, @John Conduitt, on both counts.

[Nap]

Very neat coin!

[Roerbakmix]

Great coin, immediately recognised it as ex-Tony.

I’ve recently bought a Maastricht/interlace/zedelius type from Elsen while being on vocation in Maastricht. Need to photograph the coin, as the photos by Elsen are rather poor.

 

I just realised this coin completed my subcollection of continental Sceattas: 

Series D (types 2c, 8, 10)

Series E (nearly all sub-varieties)

Series F

Series X

Herstal type

Maastricht type

Edited July 12, 2022 by Roerbakmix

[John Conduitt]

4 hours ago, Roerbakmix said:

Great coin, immediately recognised it as ex-Tony.

I’ve recently bought a Maastricht/interlace/zedelius type from Elsen while being on vocation in Maastricht. Need to photograph the coin, as the photos by Elsen are rather poor.

 

I just realised this coin completed my subcollection of continental Sceattas: 

Series D (types 2c, 8, 10)

Series E (nearly all sub-varieties)

Series F

Series X

Herstal type

Maastricht type

Great coin. It looks even more devolved than mine!