England. Aethelred II. 978-1016. AR Penny (20mm, 1.67 g, 12h). First Hand type (BMC iia, Hild. B1). Ipswich mint; moneyer Asulfr / Oswulf. Struck circa 979-985. + ÆÐELRED REX ΛIELOX, diademed and draped bust right / + OSVLF M-O GEFES, hand of providence descending from clouds, dividing alpha and omega, Λ ω. J.C. Sadler, The Ipswich Mint, unrecorded dies; BEH - ; North 766. Very Fine, peck marks on obverse.

The present portrait is of the East Anglian type. This type of portrait was only cut at the Bedford, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Ipswich, Norwich, Thetford and Norwich mints. See Michael Dolley & Tuukka Talvio, ”The regional pattern of die-cutting exhibited by the first hand pennies of Æthelræd II preserved in the British Museum” in British Numismatic Journal, 1977.