COIN

An incomplete medieval silver cut halfpenny of William I (1066-87), 'Canopy type' (North 843, BMC iii), dating to the period c.AD 1070-72, mint and moneyer uncertain (possibly mint: Worcester, moneyer: Baldric; moneyer's name ends DRIC, see below for discussion). Ref: North 1994: p191.

The coin is incomplete, missing a fragment from one end.

Length: 15.1 mm
Width: 9.5 mm
Thickness: 0.8 mm
Weight: 0.5 g

The attribution of this coin to the Worcester moneyer Baldric (or Balderic) is not certain. The surviving part of the coin appears to read [  ]DRIC O[  ] indicating only the end of the moneyer's name survives before the 'O' on ON prior to the mint name, although there is still mud encrusting parts of the coin, including around what appears to be the D. Moneyer's names ending in 'dric' are common in William I's reign and known form numerous mints with names Eadric, Godric and Ordric. Given the the orientation of the cross and the letter spacing it would apperar that the reverse inscription starts opposite the full remaining cross end, and so would be a longer name for which Baldric, known from Worcester alone, seems to be the only suitable choice. Given the findspot, not far north of Worcester, this would appear a reasonable attribution. However, Baldric is known only from the two issues following the 'Canopy' type (the 'Two Sceptres' and 'Two Stars' types, dating c.1072-77; Allen 2012: p.83) and so there is no parallel for this coin. If correct, it would be an important addition to the corpus of the Worcester-minted coinage of William I adding a new moneyer to the 'Canopy' type from the city. An alternative is that the reading of the 'D' is incorrect owing to the uncleaned nature of the coin, and that, if fully clean, it may read [  ]FRIC which could suggest a number of other moneyers including the Worcester moneyer Leofric, known to have struck in the 'Canopy' type.      

Finds of coins of William I from the Worcestershire and the West Midlands are rare, and this coin was found to the north of the main group in the region focused on the area east of the Severn between Worcester and Gloucester.   

Coin references

No coin references available.