Alfred The Great Anglo-Saxon Penny, With Ship On Backside

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Author	Replies: 7 / Views: 1,363
csaba New Member Romania 8 Posts	Posted 12/21/2022 08:01 am I need help to ID this penny, it is Alfred the Great, but I can't find this reverse type anywhere, with ship and STC mark below. Any ideas appreciated. Edited by csaba 12/22/2022 03:49 am Report this Post to the Staff

John1 Moderator United States 56855 Posts	Posted 12/21/2022 08:59 am Report this Post to the Staff
jbuck Moderator United States 188569 Posts	Posted 12/21/2022 10:28 am to the Community! Coin Collector Since 1978 Avatar Old Avatar 7070 Eisenhower Australia Canada World CCF Members on eBay CCF eBay Search Engine Report this Post to the Staff
Coinfrog Bedrock of the Community United States 94367 Posts	Posted 12/21/2022 1:26 pm to the CCF! Report this Post to the Staff
csaba New Member Romania 8 Posts	Posted 12/22/2022 03:40 am Thank you all! I've searched for hours online to find a similar saxon penny, with no success, the obverse looks definitely to be Alfred th Great, but on the backside, is that really a Viking long ship with shields, or am I not seeing right? Any ideas welcome. Report this Post to the Staff
Dorado Bedrock of the Community Canada 24885 Posts	Posted 12/22/2022 07:39 am To the Forum. Report this Post to the Staff
erafjel Pillar of the Community Sweden 2124 Posts	Posted 12/22/2022 2:28 pm I strongly believe that to be a fantasy coin. I am no expert on Anglo-Saxon coins, but a couple of things here stick out and are not in line with what I do know about such coins: - The portrait of Alfred the Great is not, well, great. His portraits on genuine coins are no artistic masterpieces either, but they have a different style and do look better than the one here. - A Viking ship ... (it is no doubt Viking ship, with shields along the sides). Why would Alfred put a Viking ship on his coins? He was no Viking, they were his enemies. Putting the weapons of your enemies on your own coins seems weird. As far as I know, there are no coins by Alfred the Great with any ships at all (I may be wrong, not an expert ...). - Staying with that ship a bit more: I find the depiction a bit too modern-looking for a 9th century coin. Some of Alfred's predecessors did have ships on their coins: https://www.spink.com/lot/18011000044 It looks quite different, being a trade ship, which makes more sense to have on a coin, used in trade. Report this Post to the Staff
csaba New Member Romania 8 Posts	Posted 12/23/2022 01:14 am Thanks for your opinion, what you say makes sense, could be a fantasy, but it is clearly not recently made. The coin was a gift, and I was happy to own an Alfred coin. What I just dont understand, why did they make the backside with the ship this much off-center. The size of the coin is correct for a saxon penny, it is silver, but the letters AELFRED should be a bit more sharp, they look a bit shaky. The circle around hid head is also too "shaky", should be more clearly cut, and more... circle. The patina looks old, also there are tiny deposits on it, like what I've seen on other medieval coins (not saxon, other european, I've never seen a saxon coin before). A strange one, could be quite old but at this point unfortunately doesn't seem that I have a genuine Alfred coin. Edited by csaba 12/23/2022 01:26 am Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 7 / Views: 1,363

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