Sale: CNG 81, Lot: 1388. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2009.  Sold For $335. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANGLO-SAXON, Secondary Sceattas. Circa 710-725. AR Sceat (0.90 g). Series J, type 37. Two diademed heads confronted; between, long cross with trident end; double border / Cross, at each end a bird right; double border. Abramson J400; Metcalf 296-9; North 135; SCBC 792. Good VF, toned.

The iconography of confronted heads to either side of a cross has a debatable origin. Prototypes can be seen in certain Merovingian issues, ultimately deriving from Byzantine types for joint rulers, but non-numismatic possibilities point to other meanings. Most notably, the type may signify a relationship, either between people (e.g., marriage or alliance) or concepts (e.g., the holy and the secular) (Gannon pp. 37-39). Regarding the reverse, there are multiple varieties of types depicting birds and crosses, all reflecting Christian iconography: the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, and the cross. The diverse array of prototypes, both from numismatics and elsewhere, accounts for the many variations in their style and presentation (Gannon, pp. 107-112).