Extremely Rare Odense Mint
Copying an issue of Edward the Confessor

CNG 102, Lot: 1290. Estimate $500. Sold for $1600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

DENMARK. Stridsperioden (Civil War). 1044-1047. AR Penny (18mm, 0.62 g). Imitation of Edward the Confessor Radiate/Small Cross type. Odense mint. Radiate and draped bust left / Short cross pattée. Hauberg 4; SCBI 18 (Copenhagen), 1276-85; CNG Inventory 900708 (August 2011); Becker Collection –. Good VF, toned. Extremely rare.

Ex Spink Numismatic Circular CV.7 (September 1997), no. 4132; Westfälische Auctiongesellschaft 8 (10 April 1997), lot 2075.

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. This type is struck posthumously in the name of the King of All England, Aethelred II (978-1016), giving the coin a degree of anonymity which the Danish moneyers desired, thereby keeping the coin as well as their work neutral in a time of conflict. Undoubtedly, this piece is an exceptional rarity and curiosity within both Scandinavian and British early coinages.