171, Lot: 408. Estimate $100. Sold for $88. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GERMANY, Saxony. Circa 985-1000. AR Pfenning (21mm, 1.50 g). Crude representation of church; four pellets among columns / Cross with pellets around. Gumowski 37 var; Dannenberg 1325 var. VF, toned, a few peck marks. Derived from the Carolingian CHRISTINA RELIGIO denier. Unrecorded variety with four pellets.

The early pfennige of Saxony have seen a number of different attributions over the years. Some were known as “wendenpfennige” from the native Slavic peoples of the eastern Germany and Pomerania and others as “randpfennige” (rim pfennigs) from their up-raised edges and attributed to the early Polish bishoprics and kingdoms. More recent studies have concluded they were civic issues of various eastern cities, with places such as Bremen, Halle-Giebichenstein, Meissen, Merseberg, Naumburg being cited as points of origin.