Extremely Rare Helmet / Small Cross Mule

CNG 85, Lot: 1479. Estimate $5000. Sold for $5500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANGLO-SAXON, Kings of All England. Aethelred II. 978-1016. AR Penny (20mm, 1.73 g, 12h). Helmet/Small Cross type mule (BMC viii/i, Hild. Ea). Worcester mint; Leofgod, moneyer. Struck circa 1009. + ÆÐELRÆD REX Λ•(NG)LΘ, bust left wearing armor and radiate helmet / + LEΘFGΘD: ΘN PIHRΛCS, small cross pattée. SCBI -; Hild. 3981; BMC -; North 774/777; SCBC 1152/1154. VF, peck marks on reverse. Extremely rare mule.

From the Marie Karlsson Collection.

This coin was likely the model for the illustration of Typ. E, Var. a., on plate 4 in Hildebrand, which is reproduced on the cover of K. Jonsson, ed., Studies in Late Anglo-Saxon Coinage (Stockholm, 1990), a festschrift in memory of Hildebrand.