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EM15892

Coenwulf, King of of Mercia, portrait Penny, Canterbury group, moneyer Oba, EF45

Coenwulf (796-821), King of Mercia, silver portrait Penny, Group III (c.810-821), Canterbury Mint, moneyer Oba, diademed bust right, bottom of bust to edge of coins, head within linear circle, legend commences at upper left, COENVVLF REX ო, outer beaded circle surrounding both sides, rev. cross moline within linear circle, legend surrounding, †OBA† MON†ETA (C.S.E. C41.2c this coin; cf.N.352; S.916). Dark tone, struck not fully round with thinning of flan at uneven rim, has been graded and slabbed by PCGS as EF45, with a good provenance, very rare.

The legends translate as "Coenwulf King of Mercia" on the obverse, note the Mercian M after REX, and on the reverse as "Oba Moneyer"

This is the only example graded by PCGS at present and therefore the finest in their census, NGC appear to have graded two pieces only.

The cathedral City of Canterbury lies on the River Stour in Kent some sixty miles from London and sixteen miles north west of the port of Dover. Early Anglo-Saxon gold Thrymsa coins are known bearing its name and became one of the most important mints in Southern England in the 8th and 9th Centuries. The Danes were bought off for £3,000 in 809, but later took the city in 839 and again in 851, also circa 981 and finally in 1011. The first Archbishop was St Augustine who arrived in 597 on a mission from Pope Gregory and accepted by King Aethelberht in 598 on his conversion to Christianity. The Archbishop later had the right to two moneyers which increased to three in 1189. The abbot of St Augustine had the privilege to one die in eight at Canterbury until 1161 although the coins do not seem to bear any specific mark. The only issue which could be demarked as for the abbot being the Henry I type XIV issue with an annulet on the shoulder for moneyers Algar and Willem, and it is known that his moneyer in the Tealby coinage was Alferg.

Provenance:

Ex C. Anthony Collection, bought by B. A. Seaby 1948.

Ex Seaby Coin and Medal Bulletin, August 1950, item 7140.

Ex W. F. Rose, Glendining, 13th March 1974, lot 64.

Ex Mrs E. M. H. Norweb, Part Four, Spink Coin Auction 59, 17th June 1987, lot 1177.

Ex Christies, 8th October 1991, lot 763.

Ex Baldwin Auction 14, 13th October 1997, lot 598.

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