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Tyrants of the Thames
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SILVER PENNY (1053-1056 AD)
Edward the Confessor, King of all England, 1042-1066 AD
Moneyer Aedwine on Lewes mint (East Sussex). Pointed helmet, bearded portrait facing right, holding
scepter; reverse, short cross voided, each limb ending in 3 crescents with an annulet at center. Agorgeous
penny featuring a fabulous portrait and superb obverse, struck on a full broad flan of good metal having
complete beaded rims, reverse cross and legend sharp but somewhat doubled from strike, the patina a
somewhat iridescent golden gray.
S-1179. N-826. PCGS-graded MS64+.
26
SILVER PENNY (1066 AD)
Harold II, King of all England, 1066 AD
Lewes mint (just a few miles from where the Battle of Hastings occurred), moneyer Oswold. Crowned
portrait, bearded facing left, holding scepter; reverse, Latin word “PAX” between 2 lines, across center.
Minted from early January through mid-October, 1066. A superb portrait of the last Anglo-Saxon king.
His famous PAX legend was a claim of “Peace” after he repelled a Norse invasion, but he was shot
through the eye with an arrow in battle, at Hastings, shortly thereafter, just ten months into his reign. This
is an extraordinarily choice penny, deeply engraved and sharply struck, on a wonderful flan having high
beaded rims and ideal golden gray patina, on which may be seen a few small green and black deposits
from the past one thousand years.
S-1186. N-836. PCGS-graded MS62.
27
SILVER PENNY (1068-1070)
William I (the Conqueror), Norman King of England, 1066-1087
Wilton mint, moneyer Godric. Facing “bonnet” portrait; reverse, within an inner circle, a cross voided by
a central annulet, each limb ending with a pellet between two crescents, and a pile in each angle. Sharply
detailed portrait and cross, legends quite clear, struck on a broad full flan of good metal, with almost
complete beaded rims, choice surfaces, ideal golden gray patina.
S-1251. N-842. PCGS-graded AU55.