Viking Imitation of a Carolingian Type

CNG 88, Lot: 1770. Estimate $10000. Sold for $8000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CAROLINGIANS. Louis 'le Pieux' (the Pious). As Emperor Louis I, 814-840. AV Solidus (22mm, 4.17 g, 1h). Contemporary imitation of Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) mint issue. Uncertain mint in Frisia. Struck circa 830. IIDII[...]VDOVVIIIIV ΛVC, laureate and draped bust right / IIIIIIIIOIIIIIIII, small cross pattée within wreath with /|\ ties. Grierson, Gold, Type V(b)-(m) (same dies as illustration); cf. Prou 1076; cf. BMC Carolingians 78; MEC -. VF, struck with worn and slightly rusty dies. Very rare.

This issue belongs to an extensive series of imitative solidi modeled on a short-lived issue struck under Louis the Pious between 814 and 818 at the Carolingian capital of Aachen (see Grierson, Gold, Plate 1, 4). Studies of coin finds have shown that these imitations were struck in Frisia between circa AD 830-900, and circulated throughout the North Sea region. Although all of the imitations are quite rare today, Grierson classified 29 different types, suggesting the output was quite extensive. Type Ii, to which the present coin belongs, represents the earliest of these imitative solidi. This type faithfully (and finely) copied the prototype's design. Two findspots are known for the recorded examples of Type Ii: a single find in northern Scotland, and two examples in the 1834 Høn Find in Norway. The Høn Find is particularly important in analyzing this issue. In addition to these imitative solidi, the find includes several Frankish deniers and one Anglo-Saxon penny, as well as several Abbasid dinars and one dirhem. Of the 20 coins contained in the find, 16 were gold. This composition is typical of North Sea finds in this period that have been connected to trade associated with the Vikings. Moreover, all of these coins were mounted for jewelry, and a couple of the mounts display a distinctly Viking style of execution.

Frisia (the northern European coast from the Netherlands to Denmark) was an important trading center for the North Sea area. A large portion of the region had been conquered by the Franks under Charles Martel and Charlemagne. Later, it became an area of contention between the Carolingians and the Vikings, who had begun to occupy Frisia in the 840s. One of these Vikings, Rorik of Dorestad, became the de facto ruler of parts of Frisia between 841 and 875. Within this territory was Dorestad, one of the economic hubs for northern Europe and an important regional mint for the Carolingians. This city's economic importance and the presence of a mint there has led to the suggestion that some of the official solidi of Louis the Pious may have been struck there (Grierson, Gold, p.5), and that the city was, more than likely, the mint for the imitative issues. Since the Carolingians had practically no access to sources of gold (Grierson, op. cit.), the gold used for striking these imitative coins probably came into the mint from the Vikings, who had access to relatively large sources of gold from their Eastern trade.

The Carolingians had little need for a gold coinage within their kingdom. However, gold was a principal medium of trade within the Viking sphere of the North Sea, and Frisia was the primary trade conduit from the Carolingian realm into that region. In these circumstances, there was an apparent need for a gold coinage for the trade conducted from Frisia, and the only recent Carolingian prototype was the small issue of Louis the Pious from Aachen. It is unknown why a new type was not conceived for this trade; perhaps the majority of the official gold found its way into the northern trade and was a recognized, accepted type. Regardless, these imitative solidi apparently formed an essential Carolingian gold coinage that was needed for trade with the Vikings on the North Sea.