Extremely Rare ‘Church’ Penny

5724855.

ANGLO-SAXON, Kings of Wessex. Æthelstan. 924-939. AR Penny (21mm, 1.36 g, 7h). ‘Church’ type (BMC iv). York mint; Wulfsige, moneyer. + AEDLSTAN REX (three wedges), small cross pattée / Steep-roofed building on ground line; trefoils flanking; in exergue, PVLTSIG (retrograde G) over annulet. Blunt, Aethelstan 443; SCBI 29 (Merseyside), 442 (same obv. die); North 683; SCBC 1100. Old cabinet toning, slightly wavy flan. Near EF. Very rare.

Ex Dr. Irving Schneider Collection; Spink Numismatic Circular LXXXVIII.11 (November 1980), no. 9226.

The Tower type of Æthelstan is unparalleled in his coinage. Christopher Blunt posited that it may have been an ecclesiastical issue, struck for Hrothweard, Archbishop of York, between Æthelstan's capture of the city in 927 and the Archbishop's death in 931. If this is the case, the tower on the reverse is likely to be a depiction of York Minster.