Continental “Wodan” type sceatta

Stephen Corner unearthed this coin and asked for a full ID and a valuation on his find. It’s a rather unusual and very rare Anglo-Saxon period sceatta but Continental rather than English.

On the obverse is a ‘Wodan’ type head with flowing hair. On the reverse is a square standard with symbols inside and outside of it.

This sceatta is an example of the insular series, type 30b/8. It is one of the varieties listed as number 835 in the Standard Catalogue. A specimen graded as nearly VF was sold at auction last year and the hammer price was £350.  It was part of the very large collection of sceattas formed over many years by Tony Abramson. Many coins in this collection that were not as rare as S. 835 sold for far higher hammer prices. However, it would seem that collectors were not as interested in this type as they were in others.

Valuation

Overall, Stephen’s coin would grade close to VF but both sides have been struck off centre. It’s still a reasonably attractive sceatta and if I were cataloguing it for sale at auction I would set the estimate at £300 to £350.

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