Sale: CNG 69, Lot: 1942. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 8 June 2005.  Sold For $850. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

DENMARK. Sven Estridsen-"Stridsperioden". 1044-1047. AR Penny (1.96 gm [including mounts], 5h). Lund mint. + MAGNVS REX, nimbate Christ standing facing; CCCO in right field / +A[RG?] ON LV [...]NICOI:, voided cross with pellet terminals and voided X in center. Cf. Hauberg pl. IX, 28; Jensen pl. 5. VF, mounted with two loops as jewelry. Rare and historically important, as well as an intriguing piece of Viking era jewelry. ($1000)

Hauberg dated the Byzantine style pennies of Sven Estridsen to the latter part of his sole reign (1047-1075), suggesting the pieces in the name of "Magnus" revealed that he occasionally used that name. It is now clear that the Christ figural type came quite early in the period, probably first appearing during the civil war- "stridsperioden" between Magnus the Good and Sven. Lund, the principal mint, changed hands several times, and presumably these pennies with the Sven types bearing the name of Magnus were struck during one of those confused periods when no party had secure control of the region. C. J. Becker, in "The Coinage of Harthacnut and Magnus the Good at Lund c.1040-1046," Studies in Northern Coinages of the Eleventh Century, places Magnus' expulsion from Lund in 1044/5, leaving a very brief time frame for the striking of these coins. However, Hauberg records some 45 moneyers for this type, suggesting either a prolonged period of striking or a brief term of frenetic mint activity. Sloppy mint practice is also evident; the central voided cross on the reverse has been punched in at least twice, producing a garbled image.