Search


CNG Bidding Platform

Information

Products and Services



Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 
84, Lot: 223. Estimate $1000.
Sold for $800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANGLO-SAXON. Cynethryth, wife of Offa, King of Mercia. 757-796. AR Penny (15mm, 0.94 gm). Canterbury mint; Eoba, moneyer. Struck circa 787-792. Diademed and draped bust right; cross behind / Legend around letter M in central circle; — and ••• above, • on either side of central stem. North 339; SCBC 909. Toned, VF, porous and ragged, a field find. Very rare.

One of the most interesting of Offa's coins is not his - but his wife's, Queen Cynethryth's. Her coins bear her name, title and portrait while making no mention of him. It is unparalleled in English coinage for a member of the royal family to strike in his or her own name without mentioning the monarch. When C.E. Blunt wrote his article, there were in total less than twenty known examples of Cynethryth's pennies.