Date: c. AD 1000-1010

Description:

Hiberno-Norse, Sihtric III Olafsson (c. 995-1036) Silver Penny

• Hiberno-Norse, Phase I, Class B – Long Cross type (THYMN)
  • Uncertain mint signature / Moneyer = Odulf or Authulfr
  • Struck in the name of ‘Thymn,’ circa 1010-1020
• (19mm, 1.25 g, 11h)
• Dolley, Myth, 20 (same dies); O’S Issue 3; SCBI –; D&F 8; SCBC 6109
  • Toned, with a few peck marks on the reverse
  • Near EF (aEF)
  • Very rare

Obverse:

• Draped bust left; pellet to right
• + ÐУMИ RΘEX MNEGMI

Reverse:

• Voided long cross, with triple crescent ends
• + ΘDI VL·FE ΘIMR VУRI

 

Country:

• Ireland

Category:

• Hiberno-Norse
  • Phase I
  • Class B (Long Cross issue)
    • Mint = Uncertain
    • Moneyer = Odulf or Authulfr
• Hammered

 

---

Additional Information:

Coins in the name of Thymn are enigmatic. Although it is tempting to ascribe them to one of the many issues with blundered inscriptions, the consistency of this legend across many dies assures us that the inscription is intentional. Earlier numismatists attributed them to a ‘Donald, king of Monaghan,’ but as there is no evidence of any such historical king, this identification has been dropped.

Some have also ascribed the coins to a Norse rival of Sihtric, but this is also unsupported by other evidence (E. Colgan, For Want of Good Money, the story of Ireland’s coinage [Wordwell, 2003], p. 5).

Hoard evidence (esp. Igelösa and List) place these issues in the later part of Phase I

In 1872 a small hoard of silver coins was found at Derrymore, Co. Westmeath which comprised:

• 2 x Long Cross pennies of Aethelred II
• 4 x Hiberno-Norse, Phase I imitations still in the name of Aethelred
• 1 x Hiberno-Norse, Phase I imitation in the name of Sihtric
• 1 x Hiberno-Norse, Phase I imitation in the name of ‘Ogsen’
• 3 x Hiberno-Norse, Phase I imitation in the name of ‘Thymn’

All of the coins were described as being in splendid condition, and obviously they were deposited within at most a few years of the introduction of the English prototype represented in the hoard. A date of deposit was recorded as c. 1000-2

• see M. Blackburn, ‘Presidential Address. Currency under the Vikings. Part 4. The Dublin Coinage c. 995-c. 1050,” BNJ 78 [2008], pp. 131–2

 

---

Further Reading:

• O’Brien Coin Guide: Anglo-Saxon Coins & Their Links to Ireland
• O’Brien Coin Guide: Who Introduced Anglo-Saxon Coins to Ireland and why ?
• O’Brien Coin Guide: Introduction to the Hiberno-Norse Coinages of the Late 10th & Early 11th C
  • Blog Post: The “life & times” of Sihtric Silkenbeard, King of Dublin