IRELAND, Hiberno-Norse. Phase III. Circa 1035-1055/60. AR Penny (17mm, 0.90 g, 4h). Uncertain mint signature and moneyer. EF.

Keystone 16 – The David C. Bianchi II Collection
Lot: 374.
Closing Date: May 20 2026 10:00 ET

British – Ireland, Silver

Estimate: $ 400

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IRELAND, Hiberno-Norse. Phase III. Circa 1035-1055/60. AR Penny (17mm, 0.90 g, 4h). Uncertain mint signature and moneyer. Draped bust left / Voided long cross, with triple crescent ends; ‘hands’ in second and third quarters, quatrefoil in first. SCBI 8 (BM), –; SCBI 22 (Copenhagen), 183 (same obv. die); SCBI 32 (Ulster), 231 (same dies); SCBC 6132. Old cabinet toning. EF.

From the David C. Bianchi II Collection, purchased from Seaby, February 1985.

The minting of coinage in Ireland began shortly before 1000 when the Hiberno-Norse king of Dublin, Sihtric III Olafsson, authorized the striking of silver coins to pay for the town's defenses. Copying directly from contemporary Anglo-Saxon issues of Æthelred II (979-1016) and Cnut (1016-1035), these pennies bear the name Sihtric or Æthelred on the obverse, and the moneyer and mint name of Dublin on the reverse. In addition to these coins, a series of derivative types, based on Æthelred's Long Cross coinage type, became so popular that they continued to be struck until at least 1150. The designs of these later issues grew increasingly more schematized and the legends unintelligible. Numismatists call this coinage Hiberno-Norse (or, sometimes, Hiberno-Danish), since it was struck for those of combined Norse-Gaelic background who settled in the area of the Irish Sea.

Closing Date and Time: 20 May 2026 at 12:04:20 ET.



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