Sale: CNG 70, Lot: 1248. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2005.  Sold For $1200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANGLO-SAXON, Danish East Anglia ("Danelaw"). Imitating Alfred the Great. Circa 885-915. AR Penny (1.38 g, 1h). "Guthrum" type. +EL FR ED RE around small cross in circle / HEIE FRED in two lines; pellet above and below, • \ between. SCBI -; BMC -; North 475/1; SCBC 966. Good VF, attractive toning, slight bend in flan. Rare and historic. ($1500)

Mark Blackburn in "The Ashdon (Essex) Hoard and the Currency of the Southern Danelaw in the Late Ninth Century," BNJ 59 (1989), pp. 13-18, gives three criteria for judging Viking imitations of Alfred's coins: light weight, anomalous style, and poor literacy, stating that if two of these conditions applied, one could be reasonably sure of an imitation. This coin, at 1.38 grams, is a bit below the increased standard of 1.60-1.45 grams for Alfred's coins, and not far from the Viking standard of circa 1.35 grams. Additionally, the moneyer's name is crudely rendered. Although East Anglia was not within the Mercian sphere of influence during Alfred's lifetime, his coinage was popular and became the standard currency, and was being extensively imitated.