Edward the Confessor Penny

December 26, 2020December 26, 2020 Peter

I’ve already had a couple of Anglo-Saxon pennies on the website and here’s another one. Peter Vernon, who was one of the first supporters of my website, said the coin was found very recently by a detecting colleague’s father (known as ‘tinner 455’). It’s a penny of Edward the Confessor, who died early in 1066.

The next king was Harold II, who was killed at what became known as the Battle of Hastings, which led to the crowning of the Duke of Normandy as William I of England on Christmas Day of 1066. It would be 870 years before England again had three kings in the same year – 1936: George V, Edward VIII and George VI.

The penny featured here is the small flan type and the reverse legend has been interpreted as +BRIHTRIC ON PE. Therefore, Brihtric is the moneyer and Wallingford the mint. In the Standard Catalogue the type is listed as number 1175. The moneyer is on record for Wallingford but not for the type, so this is a new moneyer and mint combination.

Valuation

The coin would grade about VF but it is a dead grey colour and this would put off some collectors. On the plus side, it has a new mint and moneyer combination but these do crop up quite frequently in detecting finds. In its present state of preservation a likely pre-sale auction estimate would be £350-450.

In regard to the final hammer price, much would depend on whether or not there were a couple of Wallingford specialists in the saleroom.