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Auction: 21000 - The Tony Abramson Collection of Dark Age Coinage - Part I (conducted behind closed doors)
Lot: 197

Anglo-Saxon England, Secondary Series (710-760), Sceat, 'Serpent Whorl', Series L, type 23e, London, standing square-shouldered figure in cynehelm looking right, wearing ribbed tunic, pellet each side at hem, holding long cross pommée either side, larger on left, beaded ground line and border, rev. whorl of three serpent-like heads anticlockwise, beaded tongues form tribrach, 1.02g (SL 43-10 plate coin; SCBI 69, 556 this coin; T&S pp. 451-2, 359-62; Gannon 93, 185, no. 31, Fig. 3.18a; MEC 8 Series LM; North 85; Spink 804H plate coin), a marvellous coin with a pleasing uniform patina, about extremely fine, scarce, especially in this condition

provenance
Beowulf, CNG 75, 23 May 2007, lot 1435
M Vosper, May 1998


The obverse of this issue adopts the imagery familiar to Primary Series W. Whorl-like creatures were a common protective motif in pre-Christian artwork, with the symbol assimilated into Christianity as an allusion to Christ’s Resurrection. However it could be a depiction of Psalm 34:8 - “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Gannon, pp. 141-142).


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Sold for
£3,000

Starting price
£700