Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 1755. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $7750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANGLO-SAXON. Kings of Mercia. Cynethryth, wife of Offa. 757-796. AR Penny (1.05 gm, 12h). Struck circa 787-792. Canterbury mint; Eoba, moneyer. Draped bust right, fine radiate lines in hair; \E•×\B•A• before, \ behind / +CFNE •R•Y •R•EGIN•A, Mercian 'm' with bar and pellets in central circle. Cf. Blunt 119; SCBI 16 (Norweb), 93; North 339; SCBC 909. VF, slight roughness, flan a little wavy. Dies not recorded by Blunt. One of the classic rarities of English coinage, with fewer than twenty examples recorded by Blunt. ($5000)

One of the most interesting of Offa's coins is not his at all but his wife's, Queen Cynethryth. Her coins bear her name, title and portrait while making no mention of him. Offa was the first king of Mercia to strike named coinage, and it appears the intent was to present the establishment of a strong dynasty, with his wife having a central position. Cynethryth must have been a powerful personality, and in fact some accounts ascribe to her the murder of Æthelberht of East Anglia in 794. In any case, 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.