CNG 106, Lot: 1072. Estimate $7500. Sold for $13000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANGLO-SAXON, Substantive Gold Phase. Circa 630-650. AV Thrymsa – Shilling (12.5mm, 1.26 g, 6h). ‘York’ group. Half-length figure facing, with stylized face; crosses flanking / [(upward arrow)I(retrograde C)II]HC(retrograde CFE)C(retrograde CD)(inverted A)(retrograde N), cross pattée within beaded circle. Sutherland Class V, 75a–c (same dies); A&W Type V.xxi, 319–21; Metcalf 76 (same dies); SCBI 63 (BM), 16 corr. (incorrect photo; same dies); North 27; SCBC 762. EMC 2017.0196 (this coin). EF, lustrous, light scuffs, slightly off center on reverse (as usual). Very rare.

Found near Weston, North Yorkshire, March 2017.

Gold Shillings of the distinctive York Group have been the subject of extensive debate and interpretation. Forthcoming publications by Tony Abramson and Mary Garrison argue convincingly that these rare gold coins were an Episcopal issue closely connected with the nascent Northumbrian church and date to the commencement of English coinage. The reverse legend of this type is read as a 'nomina sacra conveying a benediction on York or its king’ (T. Abramson 'The Northern Primacy,' BANS 2017 Catalogue).