SAXON BONANZA

We, as a club seem to be having a good run at the moment with finding Saxon coins. These are usually mega rare finds especially for the River Thames and as the homepage can't take the strain with the amount of these going up I thought I'd create a new page. So, and in mostly date order...feast your eyes.

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24/11/12

WJ does it again. This time it's an Eadgar. More details to come when we get a proper id. John you are one lucky son of a gun. Well done mate.

26/11/12

So here's the full id from ukfdf on John's latest Saxon coin.

Eadger penny, pre-reform 'bust crowned' type, BMC V (var. a), struck in London.

This variety of Eadgar's pre-reform 'bust crowned' type is extremely rare, and the present coin would appear to be the first recorded example struck by the London moneyer, Wynsige. Wynsige is otherwise first recorded as having struck during the reign of Aethelred II ('first hand' type, 979-85).

You can see the full id here

Another one off for WJ and T+F.

Superb John!!

29/11/12

And here's the coin after a bit of a rub with some wire wool and Brasso.

Only joking of course. I meant magic fairy dust.

What a beauty!!

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23/11/12

Dactyl's come up trumps again with another Aethelred Penny.

It's been identified with the Fitzwilliam Museum and has come back as from a rare die. The only other known coin of this type is in St Petersburg Museum in Russia.

Well done Dac on another superb find.

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07/11/12

WOOLWICH JOHN DOES THE DOUBLE!!

As we all know WJ has a knack of finding something special and on a seemingly regular basis. Well in the last few weeks he has come up trumps again with not just one but two Saxon coins. They are both of king Athelstan 924-939. The moneyer of the first coin here is Wulfstan (unknown mint) and the second is Grimwald minted in London.

Great stuff John...

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02/07/12

Last Saturday me and Decimal Bruce witnessed something truly amazing whilst out with the GMs. Steph 'the eyes' was a way off in the distance doing her usual quick paced walk up to her husband GM with a little smile on her face. We saw her walk up to John and put something in his hand. Unfortunately the conversation between them is unprintable on here however I can confirm that GM can jump pretty high. By the time we got to them it was clear that Steph had found something quite special. And she had. It's a Saxon Penny of Aethelred II minted in Bedford and, not only is this a scarce mint for this type, but this is the first example struck by the moneyer Osgar at Bedford ever to be recorded in the UK. Here it is below in all it's glory and this is what the experts at the Fitzwilliam museum had to say.

"This is the first coin of the Bedford moneyer Osgar recorded by EMC since it began in the 1990s, and there are no coins of this moneyer in the museum collections covered by our SCBI/EMC website. Osgar is only known in one type - the Last Small Cross type - from a coin in Stockholm"

Not a bad evening then Guys.

Aethelred II (the Unready) penny of Bedford (moneyer Osgar). Last small cross type, 1009 - 1017

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11/04/12

***** Stop Press *****

Ace Mudlarker Dactyl has just had his Aethelred penny identified by the Fitzwilliam museum and it's mega rare. Minted in Warminster a small mint in Wiltshire. Also with mis-spelled moneyers name 'Godwine'

Another one off find from the Thames and Field crew.

Well done Dactyl !!