Choice Eadwald Penny

CNG 102, Lot: 1420. Estimate $5000. Sold for $4750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANGLO-SAXON, Kings of East Anglia. Eadwald. Circa 796-800. AR Penny (19.5mm, 1.29 g, 6h). Mint in East Anglia (Ipswich?); Eadnoth, moneyer. EADV between two pelleted lines; AΓD above, REX below; all within border of pellets / Long beaded cross with E AD И ◊Ð in quarters; all within quatrefoil. Naismith E2.1d = SCBI 20 (Mack), 673 (same dies); BMC –; North 432; SCBC 947. Good VF, toned, light marks on reverse. Very rare.

Eadwald would appear to have profited from the succession crisis in the Mercian royal house after the death of Offa in 796. He seized power in East Anglia, retaining control for a number of years before Mercian hegemony was reasserted under Coenwulf. He is only known from his coins.