Ecgberht of Wessex Penny

An Anglo-Saxon coin of any description is on the wish-list of lots of detectorists. Some never locate a single specimen, whilst luckier searchers achieve their aim. Robert Hawker is one of the lucky ones, for he found the Anglo-Saxon coin shown here. It’s a Ecgberht of Wessex penny, who reigned between 802 and 839. This is a good length of time for an Anglo-Saxon king. As could be expected, his pennies include several types and varieties. They were struck at Canterbury, London, Rochester and Winchester.

Robert’s coin is a product of the Winchester mint and has on the obverse a SAXON monogram within the inner circle. On the reverse there is a cross pattee in the inner circle. The surrounding legend reads +IFA MONETA, so Ifa is the moneyer. The Standard Catalogue lists Ecgberht pennies of this type as number 1041 (a similar coin illustrated). In volume I of North’s English Hammered Coinage it is number 589. Robert said that when he found the coin it was bent and had a short crack but he had it expertly repaired by Barry Sherlock.

Valuation

As can be seen from the illustrations, a few scratches show up on the reverse but the coin looks to be perfectly flat and there is no sign of a crack. The only minus point us that it is grey in colour and looks as if it has been cleaned; therefore, it lacks the toning found on many Anglo-Saxon pennies. This might be its ‘as found’ colour but the snag is that it doesn’t look ‘natural’.

Robert’s coin would grade VF+ but, as already mentioned, its colour might put off some prospective buyers. If I was cataloguing the coin for sale at auction, I would set the pre-sale estimate at £2,800-3,500 and would feel confident that it would attract a buyer.

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