Cynethryth (wife of Offa) Penny, non portrait type, Canterbury, Eoba, ex SNC (1989 and 1993) and Schneider

Cynefryth, Wife of Offa (757-796), as Queen of Mercia, silver non-portrait Penny, light coinage (c.780-792), Canterbury Mint, moneyer Eoba, Mercian stylised M with contraction mark above and pellets within and surrounding for Mercia, beaded borders and legend surrounding, +CFNEÐRFÐ REGINA, the thone symbols depicted like fish hooks, rev. four lobed fleur like cross with moneyer name in angles surrounding, +E. .O .B. A., the O of lozenge type, fleurs in angles, weight 1.11g (Chick 148f this coin; Blunt 124; N.340; S.910). Rim a little chipped, toned with some porosity, a bold to good very fine, very rare example of the Mercian Queen, the first woman to be named on an English coin in history, very rare.

The obverse legend translates as "Cynefryth Queen" with the contracted M for "of Mercia" and the reverse with moneyer name "Eoba".

As with most coins that are found in the ground the populations of known examples steadily rise and when this coin was first found in 1988 it was the only example of the non-portrait issue of the Mercian Queen available to a collector to own and trade as the other three were all in museums. It was also the 19^th coin of Cynefryth known nigh on four decades ago now. Since then the numbers have steadily crept up and the price of such a coin has therefore steadily reduced from the £9,000 asking price of 1989 when it was the only example available to £5,000 as of 1993.

We are only asking the 1993 price for such a coin today and as can be seen from the provenance it was once owned by Derek Chick who studied and collected only the reign of King Offa and is the sixth coin listed of the ten then known for "The Coinage of Offa and his Contemporaries" published by Spink in 2010.

We note as of August 2026 that the total population of Cynefryth pennies of both types as shown online at the Early medieval corpus now numbers 45 coins of which 29 portrait coins and 16 non-portrait like the coin offered here, though two of those are fragments. There maybe a few more which are not listed at the corpus as it seems this very coin is not listed.

With the second longest reign in Mercian history at 39 years, Offa was arguably the most powerful ruler of the early Anglo-Saxon period dominating Southern England and claiming as much as to be King of the English and later known as Offa the Great. Surprisingly little is known for such a long reign, which also goes for his Queen alongside him, we do not even know when they were married as Cynefryth's name, which literally means "Royal Strength", does not even appear in any charter until the year 770, which is after the birth of Offa's son Ecgfrith who jointly witnessed a document with her. Queen Cynefryth is also associated with charters alongside her husband and it has been suggested that the coinage was in emulation of the Byzantine Empress Irene. The appearance of a female portrait and/or name upon the Anglo-Saxon coinage is the only and earliest occasion this occurs in history and there is no other contemporary example in Western Europe either.

Cynefryth was a powerful woman and there is an account if true that in 794 Offa executed the visiting King Aethelberht of East Anglia at Sutton Walls near Hereford apparently upon the wishes of the Queen suppressing the King-ship of the area. Offa died on 26^th July 796 in his sixties and Cynefryth became Abbess of the monastery of Cookham. The last known mention of her as Abbess Cynefryth is in the Synod of Clofesho in 798 in a dispute over church lands with Aethelhard the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is not known where Clofesho was located but synods were held there on at least seven known occasions from 742 to 825.

Provenance:

Found at Catherington, Hampshire, north of Portsmouth November 1988 when it was the nineteenth coin known of the Mercian Queen and only the fourth known of the non-portrait type.

Ex Spink Numismatic Circular, May 1989, item 2498, illustrated offered for sale at £9,000.

Purchased by Derek Chick from Spink, November 1990, with his distinctive detailed ticket.

Ex Spink Numismatic Circular, October 1993, item 7112, illustrated offered for sale at £5,000 with reused Spink ticket from 1989 appearance now priced at £5,000.

Ex Dr Irving Schneider Collection, part 3, lot 1063 with his ticket.