CNG 108, Lot: 1227. Estimate $2500. Sold for $4250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

IRELAND, Hiberno-Norse. temp. Sihtric III Olafsson. Circa 995-1036. AR Penny (19mm, 1.25 g, 11h). Phase I coinage, Long Cross type. Uncertain mint signature; Odulf or Authulfr(?), moneyer. Struck in the name of ‘Thymn,’ circa 1010-1020. + ÐУMИ RΘEX MNEGMI, draped bust left; pellet to right / + ΘDI VL·FE ΘIMR VУRI, voided long cross, with triple crescent ends. Dolley, Myth, 20 (same dies); O’S Issue 3; SCBI –; D&F 8; SCBC 6109. Near EF, toned, a few peck marks on the reverse. Very rare.

Ex CNG Inventory 914763 (February 2012); Innisfree Collection; Spink Numismatic Circular CVI.1 (February 1998), no. 5.

Coins in the name of Thymn are enigmatic. Although it is tempting to ascribe them to one of the many issues with blundered inscriptions, the consistency of this legend across many dies assures us that the inscription is intentional. Earlier numismatists attributed them to a ‘Donald, king of Monaghan,’ but as there is no evidence of any such historical king, this identification has been dropped. Some have also ascribed the coins to a Norse rival of Sihtrics, but this is also unsupported by other evidence (E. Colgan, For Want of Good Money, the story of Ireland’s coinage [Wordwell, 2003], p. 5). Nonetheless, hoard evidence (esp. Igelösa and List) place these issues in the later part of Phase I (see M. Blackburn, ‘Presidential Address. Currency under the Vikings. Part 4. The Dublin Coinage c. 995-c. 1050,” BNJ 78 [2008], pp. 131–2).