Danelaw imitation of an Alfred the Great penny

The images of this coin came in from Stuart Humphrey, who asked me to provide him with a valuation. At first sight it looks like a standard penny of Alfred the Great but it has been identified by Dr Martin Allen (Fitzwilliam Museum) as an imitation struck in the Danelaw.

On the obverse the legend reads AEL FR ED REX. There is something within the inner circle but it is indistinct.  In two lines on the reverse is DVDIG MON (the letter M of unusual form) with a pair of cross pattee between the two words. Therefore, Dudig is the moneyer.

In volume I of J. J. North’s English Hammered Coinage the type is listed as number 475.1. It imitates the two line type of Alfred the Great. In the EMC (compiled by Dr Allen) this is the only example of this exact type so it is an important discovery.   

Valuation

A similar con but a different variety of an Alfred the Great two line type penny struck in the Danelaw was sold at auction in 2018. The moneyer was Cuthbeorht, the condition good VF and the hammer price was about £1,800. Another Danelaw striking, imitating Canterbury, moneyer Burgnoth, graded as VF but cleaned and with a scratch on the obverse, was sold at auction in 2023 for £1,600. Several Danelaw imitations of pennies of Alfred the Great are known but the coin found by Stuart would seem to be a new variety.

Apart from the weakness in the centre of the obverse, the coin is well struck. I’d grade the obverse as VF and the reverse as good VF. Being a new variety makes it not quite as desirable as a new type but it would still be of interest to specialist collectors. If I was cataloguing it for sale at auction I would set the pre-sale estimate at £1,800 to £2,200 and would expect the hammer price to be within that range.

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