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HM30654

Alfred the Great Penny, Phase III, London, moneyer Tilewine, London monogram

Regular price £17,000
Regular price Sale price £17,000

Alfred the Great (871-899), silver Penny, portrait type, third coinage (c.880-899), London Mint, diademed portrait facing right, wearing tunic made up of curved lines with pellets, legend and outer beaded circle at rim surrounding, legend commences at lower left with saltire dividing King's name, ÆLFRx ED REx, rev. small wide Londonia Monogram across centre, quatrefoil of pellets to left, cross to right, moneyer signature above and below, TILEVINE, NE ligatured / MONETA, outer beaded circle surrounding, weight 1.59g (Mackay London B 1.1, O1/R1, pl.3 - 42 this coin; SCBI Lyon 609; N.646; S.1062). Unevenly toned with some old deposit and evidence of prior cleansing, rim chip at top of obverse, otherwise with good detail, good very fine and with a good provenance and very rare.

The portrait silver Penny with the monogram of Londonia on the reverse has always been the most desirable type coin of Alfred for any collector to attain in their collection. The example demonstrated here has the rarer smaller London monogram with moneyer name above and below. For further reference see "The London Monogram Coinage of Alfred the Great and the Danelaw" by William A. Mackay, British Numismatic Journal, volume 89, 2019, pages 19-107.

The obverse Latin legend translates as "Alfred King" on this superb portrait Penny which is coupled with the Londonia Monogram and "Tilewine Moneyer" on the reverse.

Alfred the Great was the key monarchal figure in the survival of the Kingdom of Wessex at the time of the Viking invasions and for that reason is seen by some as the first King of Anglo Saxon England. Born circa 848 he was perhaps 23 by the time he ascended the throne of Wessex in April 871, after Viking invasions were responsible for the death of Aethelred I. Various skirmishes and battles with the Vikings followed across Wessex in succeeding years where the legend of Alfred burning the poor cottager's cakes and accepting her subsequent scolding stems from, whilst he was travelling incognito. Victories followed and by 878 after a division of the country with Guthrum the Dane, Alfred was set up the fortified town "burgh" system across Wessex. By 886 he had finally taken and fortified the Capital City of London, from whence forth a coin as we have offered here would have been struck. Alfred also commissioned the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and is portrayed as one of the most significant rulers of the time. He died on the 26th October 899 aged circa 52.

Provenance:

Ex Ashmoleon Museum duplicates.

Ex Alderman Horace Hird, Spink with Glendining, 6th March 1974, lot 242 sold for £1,000 hammer.

Ex Morrison Collection, Spink Coin Auction, 4th December 2012, lot 6 sold for £8,500 hammer.

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