Triton XX, Lot: 1518. Estimate $20000. Sold for $40000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANGLO-SAXON, Anglo-Viking (Hiberno-Norse Northumbria). Eric Bloodaxe. First reign, 947-948. AR Penny (21mm, 1.42 g, 2h). Small cross/Horizontal-Trefoil (HT1) type. York mint; Ingelgar, moneyer. + · ERIC · REX · INEE, small cross pattée / INGEL/GAR MO in two lines; three crosses pattée between, trefoil above and below. CTCE Group VII, o = SCBI 16 (Norweb), 128 (same dies); North 549; SCBC 1028. Good VF, small scratches on reverse, lightly toned. Extremely rare.

Ex Classical Numismatic Group Inventory 701731 (September 1997).

The most famous of all Vikings, and a fearsome warrior celebrated in the sagas, Eric Bloodaxe twice held power in York in the mid 10th Century. In 948 he butchered the Saxon king Eadred’s army at Castleford but was deposed shortly afterwards as part of a political settlement before regaining the throne in 952. This coin is one of very few Eric Bloodaxe pennies to survive in private hands.