Sale: Triton VII, Lot: 1267. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Monday, 12 January 2004.  Sold For $3350. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Stephen. 1135-1154. AR Penny (1.15 gm). Flag type, circa late 1138-1139. "York" mint; uncertain moneyer. +STIEFNE R, crowned bust right, holding lance with banner; star to right / + (quadrefoil) PTDNESI ON E (pierced triangle with annulets) V, cross moline with lis. Mack 217; BMC 254ff; North 919; SCBC 1313. Toned VF, edge crack. Very rare. ($1500)

According to Mack, "[the] object which replaces the sceptre in the King's right hand on the obverse of these coins has been variously described but the most likely explanation is that it represents in miniature the standard which was carried into battle at Northallerton in August 1138 when Stephen's army, raised by Archbishop Thurstan of York, defeated the Scots. The standard consisted of a heavy mast carrying the flags of St. Peter of York, St. John of Beverly and St. Wilifrith of Ripon, borne on a four-wheeled wagon and crowned with a silver pyx containing the Host." The cryptic mint name EV has been interpreted as York (Eboracum), but a mint in France has also been suggested, striking while Stephen was in Normandy dealing with a rebellion.