Extremely Rare Anglo-Carolingian Type

CNG 108, Lot: 799. Estimate $1500. Sold for $1500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANGLO-CAROLINGIANS. 10th century. AR Denier (22mm, 1.30 g, 10h). In the types of the Kings of Wessex. Felechanis mint(?); Conguion, moneyer. Struck circa 936-940s. + FELЄ(quadrate C)HΛИIS, small cross pattée / (quadrate C)OИ(quadrate G)/VIOИ in two lines; three crosses pattée between, rosettes above and below. R. Naismith, “A Pair of Tenth-Century Pennies Found on the Banks of the Loire,” NC 174 (2014), 2 (this coin). EF, find patina, some porosity. Unique.

Ex Bru Sale (9 December 2011), lot 153.

Approximating its appearance and weight to English issues from the time of Edmund to Eadgar (939-975), this coin combines the stylistic feature of coins originating in the west midlands of England with the use of rosettes on the reverse. The legends, however, indicate that this coin belongs to a small and very rare group of Anglo-Carolingian hybrids. Only two other such coins or groups of such coins – all found in France – have been identified (Naismith, p. 224, notes 6 &7).

In the case of our coin, the legends confirm the association with other Anglo-Carolingian coins. The obverse legend, FELЄCHΛИIS, more closely resembles the mint name of the town of LeMans (Cinomanis), rather than any Anglo-Saxon ruler, while the moneyer on the reverse, Conguion, can be assocated with the modern Breton personal name, Goyon. According to Naismith (p. 225), this suggests a origin in Brittany for this type, struck following the return of the Breton leadership from sanctuary in England in 936 and continuing until the 940s.