Sale: CNG 78, Lot: 2136. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 May 2008.  Sold For $2750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANGLO-SAXON, Kings of Wessex. Alfred the Great. 871-899. AR Penny (1.17 g, 12h). First coinage; Lunette ‘Burgred’ type. Canterbury or London mint; Tata, moneyer. Struck circa 871-875. + ΛELBRED RE, diademed bust right / MON ETΛ in lunettes above and below TΛTΛ (3 pellets). SCBI 42 (South-Eastern), 748; cf. BMC 172 (legends); North 627; SCBC 1057. VF, darkly toned.

From the Ross Schraeder Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group 28 (8 December 1993), lot 662.

The portrait on this example is a bit unusual compared to other examples of this type. As noted in North, p. 123, some of the coins of this (rare) moneyer are known to be 19th century forgeries. This coin, however, does not fit the diagnostic listed in Blunt and Thompson (”Forgery in the Anglo-Saxon Series,” BNJ XXVIII [1955-7], pp. 18-25) for determining whether it is one of these forgeries.