Halfpenny of Edward the Elder

Steve Simmons told me that he unearthed this coin from ancient woodland. He said it was only about four inches deep but he had so much trouble locating it that he almost gave up. It’s a great find and a really rare one, too.

This is a rather special Anglo-Saxon coin of Edward the Elder, who was the son of Alfred the Great. On the obverse there is a small cross within the inner circle and the surrounding legend reads EADVVEARD E; what follows on is the end/start of the legend but this area is blurred. On the reverse, in two lines, is VILRI CMO (the letter O is lozenge-shaped with ornaments on each point) so the moneyer is Wilric. There is a row of three pellets across the centre and a pellet above and below.

Two line type pennies of Edward the Elder usually have three crosses in the centre of the reverse with a trefoil above and below. However, a few have pellets instead but that variety is very rare indeed. Therefore, if Steve’s find were a penny then it would be a real rarity. But it isn’t a penny!

The coin measures 17mm in diameter and weighs in at .052 of a gram. Therefore, it is not only a halfpenny but additionally it is a new variety for Edward the Elder and the moneyer was previously unknown as being responsible for this denomination. I’d be willing to place a substantial wager that Steve has never unearthed a coin as rare as this one.

Valuation

The coin has a few scuffs but no chips, cracks or bends and overall it looks as if it would grade about VF. Back in 2021 an Edward the Elder halfpenny was sold at auction; it was described as being cleaned and straightened but otherwise better than VF and the hammer price was £4,000. That coin wasn’t unique but the specimen found by Steve appears to be the only known example of a new type and moneyer. There is a slight possibility that it is a Viking imitation but this would not make it any less important.

What would this coin be worth? Well, that’s difficult to predict but if I was cataloguing it for sale at auction then in its present condition my minimum pre-sale estimate would be £3,000.

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