Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 1520. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $850. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

DENMARK. Harthacnut. 1035-1042. AR Pfennig (0.75 gm, 9h). Ribe mint. Crude, schematic bust left, wearing pyramidal helmet and holding trefoil sceptre; cross in front of face, garbled legends / Tribrach with dotted borders, central cross; garbled legends with RIB mintmark, two die-cut lines extend from border to center. Cf. Hauberg 49. Good VF, fine old toning, central flan crack. ($750)

Cnut, the Danish king of England, was succeded by his two sons upon his death in 1035, but his eldest son Harold retained the title of English king for himself, while Harthacnut was left with Denmark. The situation changed with Harold's death in 1040, and for a brief two years Harthacnut was king of a united realm. Harthacnut's helmeted bust type is derived from his father's English penny (SCBC 1158), while the tribrach or triqueta motif is a common Norse symbol. These Harthacnut types may have continued after his demise, possibly throught the "Stridsperioden", or civil war between Magnus the Good and Sven Estridsen, who ultimately triumphed in 1047.