COIN

Specialist Treasure Report for H.M. Coroner:

2014 -T880: A silver pierced coin or Sceat / Sceatta of Early Medieval date

HM Coroner: Mr Mark Bricknell

District: Herefordshire

Date: Early Medieval (AD 700 - 710)

Findspot: Kington Area.

Date of discovery: October 2014

Circumstances of discovery: Whilst searching with a metal detector

Description:

A broken and pierced early-medieval silver sceat of Primary Phase Series C2. The coin dates to c.AD 700-710 and was probably minted in Kent. Approximately a quarter of the coin is missing, broken across what appears to be an old fracture roughly running along the hairline on the bust and through the piercing. The break itself, however, appears to be recent. The piercing suggests that the coin was used as a pendant or part of a necklace, and is located directly behind the bust at ear level on the obverse and directly above the standard on the reverse perhaps indicating that the reverse was intended to shown.

Obverse: Right-facing crowned bust with square nose enclosing a pellet eye, a C-shaped ear with three pellets behind and a neck composed of two double pellet rows. There is a curving horizontal line below above three pellets, probably representing shoulders. In front a runic inscription, spelling æpa, and behind the head an unbarred A with annulet beneath.

Reverse: Pellet standard enclosing TOTII with a cross on each side and T (barely visible on flan) at each corner.

Dimensions: diameter: 11.4 mm; width: 8.9 mm; thickness: 1.6 mm; weight: 1.0 g.

Discussion:

Finds of sceattas in Western Britain are rare but the type and findspot fit well into the known pattern of finds, albeit at its western edge (Naylor 2011). Pierced sceattas are very rare finds on a national scale. In recent years PAS have recorded a number of examples including Alvediston, Wiltshire (SOM-8325A1; 2012 T495), Barnby in the Willows, Nottinghamshire (DENO-808377; 2011 T424), West Horsely, Surrey (SUR-EF8F46) and Paulerspury, Northamptonshire (NARC-E843F2). A few examples are also known from late 7th- to early 8th-century Anglo-Saxon burials, such as two found in a grave at Wrotham, Kent (Rigold and Metcalf 1984: 267).

Although single coins do not normally constitute Treasure this example has been modified through piercing and would have been worn as a pendant. This would have removed the coin from the circulating currency and changed its function. It should therefore be considered as an object rather than a coin, in accordance with a number of similar precedents.

Coins of this type were produced of fine silver, well in excess of the 10% threshold set down by the Act and are over 300 years old. It is therefore my opinion that in terms of the key criteria of age and precious metal content, this find represents a clear case of Treasure under the terms of the Treasure Act (1996).

References:

Brindle, T (2004) NARC-E843F2 An early medieval pierced sceatta from Paulerspury, Northamptonshire at: http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/70357

Burrill, C (2011) DENO-808377 An early medieval pierced sceatta from Barnby in the Willows, Nottinghamshire at: http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/454952

Burnett L. and Naylor J. 2012:SOM-8325A1 An early medieval pierced sceatta from Alvediston, Wiltshire at: http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/509420

Naylor, J 2011, 'The circulation of sceattas in western England and Wales', Medieval Archaeology 55, 296-9.

North J.J.: 1994: English Hammered Coinage; Volume I Early Anglo-Saxon to Henry III c.600-1272 Third Edition (2000) Spink: London

Rigold, S and Metcald D M 1984, 'A revised checklist of English finds of sceattas', in D Hill and D M Metcalf (eds), Sceattas in England and on the Continent, British Archaeological Reports British Series 128 (BAR, Oxford), 245-68.

Williams, D (2006) An early medieval pierced sceatta from West Horsely, Surrey at: http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/127249

Authors

Peter Reavill

Finds Liaison Officer, Portable Antiquities Scheme

Dr John Naylor

National Finds Advisor for medieval and post-medieval coinage

Heberden Coin Room, Ashmolean Museum. Oxford

December 2014

Coin references

No coin references available.