Sale: CNG 75, Lot: 1433. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 23 May 2007.  Sold For $475. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANGLO-SAXON, Secondary Sceattas. Circa 730-765. AR Sceat (0.78 g, 12h). Series L, type 16/18 mule. London mint. Crude diademed and draped bust right; floral ornament before / Figure standing facing, head right, in crescent-shaped boat, holding long cross pommée and bird; perch below bird. Beowulf 63 (this coin); Abramson K360; Metcalf 330/333; North 70/72; SCBC 825/827. Good VF, toned, minor porosity. Rare.

From the Beowulf Collection.

A cross appearing before the bust is common on the early Anglo-Saxon types, and holds obvious spiritual overtones. However, on a few varieties there is a floral ornament, sometimes held in-hand. Such motifs are common in Germanic and Mediterranean art, and typically convey a testament of imported luxuries; a sign of wealth. Such designs were adopted in the Anglo-Saxon world, and became relatively common in the eighth century. Another inference would be the idea of deliverance, of a secular nature by way of a medicinal plant, or, spiritually, by way of a crux foliata (Gannon, pp. 67-69). As with Type 12 (see lot 1432, above), the reverse of type 18 adopts the obverse type of Series U, except that one of the crosses has been replaced by a bird. Such a depiction has secular and sacred prototypes, most often interpreted as either an aristocratic benefactor with his falcon, or as St. John with his eagle. The elements of the type also have parallels in the legend of the saint-king Oswald, who was the most popular English royal saint at the time (Gannon, pp. 96-7).