those of a similar type which follow; and in this respect they more closely resemble the coin of Ethelred above referred to, than any others of his coins. Bust to the right. SIEESTEF MONETA This type differs from the foregoing, having the arcs of the segments broken in the middle, and bent inwards. I know of no other coin of this type. 6. + AELBRED RE+ Bust to the right. CIALVLF MONETA In three lines separated by bars curved at the ends. Coins of the three last types are always of very base metal, and, like those of Ethelred and of Burgred King of Mercia, rarely exceed 20 grains in weight. The spelling of the king's name with B is remarkable: no other instance of this spelling is to be found on the coins of Alfred, although the use of B for F in some Saxon names is not uncommon. I place these coins first, because their resemblance to the coins of Ethelred and Burgred leads me to consider them as being Alfred's earliest coinage. Of that which I think should follow, a fragment only remains. 7....ED REX Bust to the right. The remains of its reverse shew that when perfect it presented the same type and the same legend, EƉERED MONETA, as the beautiful unique penny of archbishop Ethered, with the head, (probably of Alfred), in the same collection as this. The two coins which follow are the only ones to which we 1 cannot satisfactorily assign a place in the series, as they are quite different in their types from all the rest. 8. ÆLFRED + Bust to the right. A tau connected at its extremities with the edge of the piece by beaded lines. BRITISH MUSEUM, Pl. I, FIG. 8. This coin is remarkable, not only on account of its type, but for the legend on the reverse being in Saxon, instead of in Latin, for the prefix ÆT to the name of the mint, and for its being the earliest coin known of that mint, viz. Gloucester. The prefix ÆT to the names of places was not unusual during the Heptarchic period, as any one conversant with charters of that period will acknowledge. The following extracts may be adduced in illustration of this. Bissenos agros quam incolæ hujusce regionis sic vocitant, Æt Ulenbeorge. CHARTER OF COENRED KING OF MERCIA, A. D. 709. In loco qui dicitur at Beathum XC manentium, et in aliis multis locis: hoc est æt Stretforda XXX cassatos; at Sture XXXVIII. Simili etiam vocabulo æt Sture in Usmerum XIIII manentium, Et Breodune XII, &c. CHARTER OF HEATHORED BP, OF WORCESTER, A. D. 781. See also the instance At Sandwich. p. 13 of the Harmony of the Chroniclers in this volume. 9. + AELFRÆD REX Written cross-wise. + LVDAMON. WILLIAM ASSHETON ESQ. Pl. I. FIG. 9. The neatness and elegance of this coin remind us of the coins. of Offa king of Mercia; and its reverse type closely resembles that of some of the Mercian coins. The cruciform disposition of the obverse legend finds a parallel on the reverses of the coins of Ethelwulf and Ethelbert. 10. During the progress of some excavations in St Paul's Churchyard, London, in the year 1841, there was found a piece of lead, nearly an inch and a half square, and half an inch thick, having on each side a deeply indented impression from the obverse and reverse of a penny die of Alfred, of the type which next demands our attention. It would seem to have been a trial piece, struck from an unfinished die, and it is defaced on the obverse, apparently to prevent an improper use being made of it. The moneyer's name seems to have been EALDVLF. A coin in the British Museum (21), C. R. SMITH ESQ. Pl. I, FIG. 10. one in Mr Cuff's collection: (20) and a fragment in that of the late Sir John Twisden, were all that were known of this type before the disinterment of the Cuerdale hoard. In that hoard fifteen specimens were found, including the fragments 17 and 18; and of the whole number of this type now known all the important varieties will be found figured in Plate II. 11. + ÆLFRED REX SA + Bust to the right. EADVLF MONETA A cross saltire within a lozenge, which is connected with the margin of the coin by a beaded line; three pellets at one side. 12. ELFRED REX REV. T. F. DYMOCK. Pl. II, FIG. 1. Similar bust. This differs from the preceding in having a cross bar at each angle of the lozenge. + OTRHTMVND WILLIAM ASSHETON Esq. Pl. II, FIG. 2. Similar bust. Same type with a pellet at J. D. CUFF Esq. Pl. II, FIG. 3. for TORHTMVND. The lines which connect the lozenge with the margin are not beaded in this Similar type, with a pellet on each ÆLFRED REX SI Similar bust. side of the lozenge externally, and in each angle internally. REV J. W. MARTIN. Pl. II, FIG. 9. REGINGIED MONETA. This differs from the last in having crosses instead of pellets on each side of the lozenge. J. D. CUFF Esq. Pl. II, FIG. 10. Similar type, a cross within the lozenge, and a crescent attached to each side of the beaded lines which connect the lozenge with the margin. 22. X AELFRED REX + BVRGNOÐ BRITISH MUSEUM. Pl. II, FIG. 11. Similar bust. Similar type; a pellet at each side of the lozenge, another in each angle of the cross enclosed therein, and a curved line connecting each opposite pair of side of the lozenge; a plain marginal line within the usual beaded margin; two of the lines connecting the lozenge with the margin indented, two plain. WILLIAM ASSHETON ESQ., Pl. II, FIG. 13. The date of execution of these coins is ascertained by their resemblance to the more common type of those of Ceolwulf II, king of Mercia, A. D. 874. The busts differ on all, but some, especially 13 and 15, are close imitations of those on the coins of the Roman emperors, and the diadem on all is clearly of Roman origin. There is a marked difference in workmanship between those which read REX SAXONUM and those which read simply REX. The former were probably minted in Alfred's paternal dominions of Wessex. The following are all the names of moneyers which occur on coins of this type: Before I proceed to notice the coins of Alfred which come next in succession, I must draw the attention of my readers to two coins which are not indeed English, but are the evidence of the former existence of English coins of the same type, and hold out to us the expectation of such being discovered at some future time. In my Essay on the coins of East Anglia, I have noticed coins of two princes, Ethelred and Oswald, on which we are presented with a type originally French, but adopted by them, the front or portico of a type, and here we have two other coins of the same type which are evidently blundered imitations of the coins of English Kings. AELRF... REX + QVENTOVVICI EDENATREX + QVENTOVVCI } Front of a temple. A cross with a pellet in each angle. Same types. BRITISH MUSEUM. PL. VII, FIG. 1 and 2. This place Quentowic is already notorious for blundered imitations of the coins of Cnut or Canute struck in England at Ebraice and Cunnetti, (for all the coins with the name of this mint found at Cuerdale and elsewhere, were clearly blundered; not one of them presenting anything like a correct legend on their obverse ;) and here we have from the same place two other blundered imitations of coins of Alfred and of Ethelstan: for I think there can be no doubt that the obverse legends of these coins are intended for AELFRED REX, and EDELSTAN REX, respectively. It would appear probable, that the Northmen, when they went to France, carried with them English money, and during their occupation of Quentowic, employed ignorant moneyers to strike coins in imitation of them. It is to be observed that in genuine French coins of this type, the legend on the temple face of the coins is always XPISTIANA RELIGIO, or the name of the place of mintage. Only on these blundered coins, and on those undoubtedly English coins above referred to, do we find that type used as an obverse accompanying the name and title of the king. I consider it, then, extremely probable that future discoveries of coins, lost or concealed about the year 880, may make known to us genuine pieces of this type, both of Alfred and of Ethelstan, and for this reason I give these two pieces a place in the accompanying plates of Alfred's coins. Mr Assheton's beautiful and unique penny of Ceolwulf II of Mercia, figured in Mr Hawkins's account of the Cuerdale coins, leads me to place next in succession the following coin, and then the London coins, between which and the penny of Ceolwulf it is, as it were, a connecting link. 24. DENI JA XRX+ Victory hovering over two emperors 1 |