Penny of Offa

I was asked by Lyubomir Koychey to provide a valuation on this early Anglo-Saxon silver penny.

Lyubomir’s coin is a penny of Offa of Mercia, which was struck at London during the light coinage. On the obverse is a lozenge cross fleury, in the centre of which is an annulet with a pellet centre. In the angles of the cross fleury is OFRA; the O is lozenge-shaped, the F underlined and the down stroke of the R has a bar across it, which turns it in to a Rx monogram.

On the reverse, in three lines, is the name of the moneyer: ALH MVN a. There is a dividing line across the centre with long fleury ends and above ALH is a cross. The moneyer is listed as being Ealhmund.

The standard reference work on coins of Offa is The Coinage of Offa and His Contemporaries by Derek Chick (published in 2010). Chick lists the coin under discussion as type 39, of which there are varieties and a total of eight coins were on record in 2010.

Valuation

The obverse of this coin would grade about VF, the reverse VF. Pennies of Offa are not as rare as they used to be as the number of specimens on record increases year on year through detecting finds. They are still rare and this is a good example so my price range would be £800-1,000.

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