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Auction: 11023 - Ancient, English & Foreign Coins and Commemorative Medals
Lot: 19

Danelaw Vikings, c.875-925, ´Hacksilver´ ingot, 8.06g, 52mm x 3-4m.m., smoothed and tapering square rod, stamped on all sides at one end with lozenge grid pattern, very fine Estimate £ 120-150 provenance Found near York, 2010, recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme, ref. YORYM 727414. The Viking invaders were not used to the monetary economies they found in the English territories. As a result for some years after the conquests of the 860s and 870s they continued to make transactions using bullion either as cast and marked bars or as cut up silverware and jewelry. This seems to have operated as currency alongside coins coming from Southern England and the continent . The resulting economy is often referred to as the ´dual economy´ of the Danelaw. The most famous find of coins, hacksilver and other items from this period is the Cuerdale hoard found in 1840 by the river Ribble in Lancashire. As well as several thousand coins, this included a large number of pieces of hacksilver. This piece of hacksilver would have been worth around 6 Pennies assuming an average weight of c.1.30g for a Penny. Finds of individual pieces of hacksilver are uncommon.

Sold for
£260