Triton XVIII, Lot: 1496. Estimate $3000. Sold for $5500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

DENMARK. Stridsperioden (Civil War). 1044-1047. AR Penny (17mm, 1.04 g, 2h). Lund mint; Ilontat(?), moneyer. + O ID IIIVDCO, bird standing left / + IL· ONT ΛT N LVD, voided long cross, with pellet at center and triple-crescent ends; crescent in first quarter. Becker rev. die 110; Hauberg 16 (Magnus the Good); Hede III, 43. EF, toned, two peck marks on reverse. Very rare.

From the Joseph R Lasser Collection for the benefit of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Ex Siegfried Schierhorn Collection (Künker 176, 29 September 2010), lot 5889 (hammer €4.200); Rasmussen 389 (31 January 1979), lot 3037.

The ‘Stridsperioden’ (literally meaning a ‘time of dispute’) is the name given by Danish historians to the period when rival Danish and Norwegian claimants (Magnus den Gode, Harald Hardråde, and Svend Estridsen) fought for the Danish throne. During this period, circa 1044-1047, Lund changed hands many times. Because of this, the mint produced a number of dies with the names blundered, so that any coins produced would be accepted by whichever king controlled the mint at a given time.