Late Viking Coins, Part III

This is part III of my museum tour, cataloging the coin exhibit of late Viking era coins. What follows are translations of the descriptions for each coin group:

Coins and runes
Following the pattern of Anglo-Saxon coins, it was common for Norwegian coin masters to put their name on the coins. Olav Kyrre coins exhibit many interesting inscriptions such as "Ulfkel made me", "Gunnar owns this stamp," "Askel owns this penny." Most are written in Old Norse, some even with runes. The use of runes is probably inspired by the Danish coins.

Runes found on early Norwegian coins:



A Norse coin with runes:


Sigurd the Crusader, his brothers and civil war
Most of the 1100s was a turbulent time for the country. This is reflected by the coins issued. Royal brothers Sigurd the Crusader, Eystein Magnusson and Olaf Magnusson minted coins without their titles. But one of the oldest bracteates we read Olavi REX, and this must be Olaf Magnusson. This Olaf is not usually included in the Norwegian royal line, but since he has released his own coin, perhaps he deserves to be counted as a king?

During the reign of these three royal brothers , the weight of the coins are further reduced. Most of the minted half pence are 0.20 g, but the quarter pennies are reduced all the way down to 0.06 g. These are among the lightest coins known.