Lot 257
Great Britain. Kings of All England. AR Penny, ND (Hastings, struck 1059-1062). North-828; S-1182. 1.3 grams. Edward the Confessor, 1042-1066 AD. Hammer Cross type. Crowned, draped, and bearded bust right, scepter before; +EADPAR RRE· around. Reverse: Short voided cross, the arms terminating in pelleted crescents, pellet in one angle; +DVNINC ON HÆST around. Good strike and nicely toned, Medieval medium gray with golden brown highlights. Full flan with high, beaded rims. Dramatic portrait. A pleasing example. NGC graded MS-62.
British silver mining in the early Middle Ages could never aspire to the wealth and productivity that was becoming evident at Germany's Rammelsberg mine, in the Harz Mountains. That mine would dominate European bullion production for the next few centuries. Near the time of the Norman Conquest, in 1066 A.D., the workings in England were generally small and dispersed. Silver was typically refined out of silver-bearing lead ores, and so was closely allied with lead production in the country. The deposits worked tended to be shallow, and so the techniques employed for extraction were very basic -- surface trenches, and perhaps short tunnels. The northern Pennines were the major source for silver at the time. However, there was also a thriving mining business in Derbyshire in the time of Edward the Confessor, where the mines of Bakewell, Ashford and Hope yielded a modest £30 worth of silver. By contrast, the yield of lead amounted to "five wain loads."
Where England's advantage lay, in Europe's commercial community, was in the consistency of fineness and uniformity of its primary coin, the silver penny. The rigid sense of justice and tradition, which often characterized the workings of the Anglo-Saxon kings, mostly prevented the expediency of coinage debasement in order to make ends meet -- a problem that regularly plagued the various monies on the Continent. Under William the Conqueror, the penny's weight was stabilized at 22 ½ grains, where it remained for two centuries. As England's trade and exports increased during the next two centuries, the English penny became a favored and imitated instrument of exchange.
Estimated Value $400 - 500.
Ex Dr Jacob Y. Terner Collection (by private treaty to the Millennia Collection).
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| Realized $810 |
