Date: c. 1055/60-1065/7

Description:

Hiberno-Norse. temp. Murchad mac Diarmata. 1052-1070. Silver Penny (0.66 g). Phase IV coinage, Class C, Type 1a. Facing bust with triple-stranded mustache and three pellets on chin, thought to have been imitative of contemporary English coins of Edward the Confessor.

• Diameter: 18 mm
• Weight: 0.66 g
• Uncertain mint signature and moneyer
• Struck circa 1055/60-1065/70.

Grierson, Coins of Medieval Europe 148; O’S 47 var. (symbols in rev. field); SCBI 8 (BM), 154 (same dies); SCBC 6136

• Extremely Fine (EF)
• A superb example of a very rare coin type
• Very Rare

Obverse:

• Blundered legend / illegible
• Schematized facing helmeted head: pellet-in-annulet eyes, annulet cheeks, curvi-linear mouth and triple-stranded, annulated mustache; three pellets on chin.

Reverse:

• Blundered legend / illegible
• Voided long cross, with triple crescent ends; with symbols in angles
• Class C, Type 1a  Voided long cross, with triple crescent ends; pellets in first and fourth quarters, ‘hand’ in second quarter, + in third quarter.

Country:

• Ireland

Category:

• Hiberno-Norse
  • Phase 4
    • Class C
    • Type 1a
    • Facing Bust with triple-stranded mustache / Long Cross type
• Hammered

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Additional Information:

The brief Phase IV (c. 1055 – 1065) saw further deterioration in the weight and workmanship of the coins. It was a chaotic period in Ireland’s Late Medieval history, with various minor kingdoms and clans competing for control of the coastal towns.

• Hiberno-Norse rulers lost control of Dublin in 1052, and some of these Phase IV coins may have been struck at other locations, but we cannot be certain of where.
• Phase IV coins are described as ‘scratched die’ types, because the design seems to have been crudely scratched into the dies, rather than carefully engraved.

Known examples of this very rare Phase IV, Class C type all appear to come from a hoard discovered in northern Italy (along a traditional pilgrim route to Rome) in the late 19th C which was subsequently handled by the famous dealer Adolph Hess of Frankfurt.

• See M. Dolley and S. N. Lane, “A Parcel of late Eleventh-Century Hiberno-Norse Coins Found in North Italy,” BNJ XXXVII (1968).

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