British Coins

Kings of Mercia, Burgred (852-874), Penny, type A, Cenred, diademed bust right, bvrgred rex, rev. cenred moneta in three lines within unbroken lunettes, pellet terminals, 1.12g/9h (BMC 176; N 423; S 938). Extremely fine with attractive dark tone £400-600

Provenance: F. Elmore Jones Collection.

The Lunette type was a convention coinage struck in Mercia by Burgred and in Wessex by both Æthelred I and his brother Alfred (see lots 1010-11) – a temporary economic union brought about by the Viking invasion of 866 and the activities of the Great Army over the next decade. Extremely rare coins of the type are also known in the name of Archbishop Ceolnoth of Canterbury. The debased state of many of Burgred’s coins in the 870s shows the strain on the native economy caused by the war