Unpublished Pepin with Charlemagne Reverse

Sale: CNG 75, Lot: 1187. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 23 May 2007.  Sold For $7000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CAROLINGIANS. Pepin 'le Bref' (the Short). King of the Franks, 754/5-768. AR Denier (1.19 g, 3h). Paris mint. RP•; bar above / Cross ancrée; pellets in quarters, [cross above]. Depeyrot 756 var. (no pellets on rev.); M&G 35 var. (same); MEC 1, -. EF, lightly toned, minor edge roughness. Exceptional metal. Unpublished variety for Pepin.

The cross ancrée was a traditional symbol on coins of Paris from Merovingian times. These coins of Pepin are very rare, with only three examples seen by Depeyrot. None of those, however, have the pellets on the reverse, which are only known from Charlemagne’s earliest issue from Paris (Depeyrot 757; M&G 229).