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Auction: 11009 - Ancient, English & Foreign Coins& Com Medals
Lot: 609

Wessex, Alfred the Great (871-99), Penny, 1.02g, lunettes issue, 871-77, reverse type A, Canterbury, Heremoth, diademed bust right, rex+aelbred:, rev., mon/heremod/eta, closed lunettes, pellet in each lunette angle (Lyons and MacKay group 1 var.Ia; N.625; S.1057), very fine Estimate £ 1,500-2,000 provenance Found Torksey, Lincs, January 2011 Recorded with the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, EMC 2011-0061 A large number of Viking age finds have been found near Torksey in Lincolnshire. These are associated with the over-wintering of the Viking ´Great Army´ in 872/3 at Torksey which is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. This coin can therefore be linked directly with the momentous events of the early years of the reign of Alfred the Great and may well have formed part of tribute paid by the kings of Wessex and Mercia to the Vikings at this time.

Sold for
£2,700