Anglo Saxon coin

Anglo-Saxon

Fitzwilliam Museum

circa 630

A shilling struck at the mint in Canterbury during the reign of Eadbald, king of Kent (616- 640). The designs on the coin are copied from contemporary Continental coins of the Merovingians. The obverse depicts the diademed head of a ruler and the reverse has a representation of the True Cross raised on Golgotha suspended over a globe of the world. King Eadbald, son of King Ethelberht, had initially renounced the new Christian faith, but returned to it later.

• Medium: gold
• Dimensions: diameter: 1.1cm
• Art Fund Grant: £2500 ( Total: £5,000)
• ArtFunded in: 2002
• Vendor: Cliff Bradshaw

Provenance

Found at Goodnestone, Kent.

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