BROOCH

Description: Silver penny of Edward the Confessor (AD 1042-66), Bust facing/Small cross type, c. 1062-65 (N830), with four added silver rivets evenly placed around the inscription to convert it into a brooch or badge. Bent, and slightly chipped. Moneyer Godwine, mint probably Maldon

Obverse: Crowned bust, draped and bearded +E[A]DPARD [REC]X__
Reverse: Small cross patee +G[O]D[P]INE ON [H or M]Æ__

Dimensions: Diameter 18.1mm, Weight 1.23g

Discussion: The object is fairly typical of a type of coin brooch or badge which appears to have been particularly fashionable from the middle of the reign of Edward the Confessor in the early 1050s, and which remained popular in the early Norman period. A pin fitting and catch-plate would have been secured by the rivets, but these have now been lost. There are no traces of gilding, which is often found on the face left exposed when the object was worn. However, it appears from the position of the rivets that the brooch was worn with the obverse visible. This is unusual, as normally the reverse, with a variety of cross designs, tends to be the display side. It is possible that the brooch was never completed if it was realised that the fittings were on the wrong side. The removal of fittings would accounts for the damage to the coin, and if it was not completed, that would also explain the lack of gilding.

The rivets mean that parts of the inscription are lost, so the mint cannot be certainly identified. The legible part of the mint inscription suggests Maldon, Malmesbury or Hastings. The name Godwine is recorded as a moneyer in this type in Maldon and not at the other two, and together with the proximity of the find to Maldon, this makes a Maldon attribution probable, although not certain.

Notes:

As the use of this object has been changed from a coin to a brooch or badge, and being over 10% precious metal and over 300 years old, it constitutes Treasure under the stipulations of the 1996 Treasure Act.

Authors: Wendy Scott, Finds Liaison Officer, Leicestershire and Rutland.

Gareth Williams, Curator of Early Medieval Coins, The British Museum