★ Extremely Rare ★

Denmark. Knud den Store (the Great) 1019-1035. AR Penning (19mm, 1.15g, 6h). Struck after 1017. +CNUT REX ANG[LOX], bareheaded draped bust left / +[HI]LDRED MO CR, quatrefoil with pellet on each cusp, long voided cross with each limb terminating in three crescents, pellet in center. Malmer chain 133 (Danish chain), dies 9.202.1915; Hauberg -. Extremely rare hybrid Long Cross / Quatrefoil imitation in the name and title of Cnut. 5 die identical coins recorded by Malmer. Edge damage, peck marks. Near Very Fine.

Among the Scandinavian imitative coinage, the Long Cross type is without a doubt the most often imitated type. The majority of these have illegible legends, but are also often seen with a partly or fully legible legend with the name and title of Aethelred II. Long Cross imitations with Cnut’s name and title are on the other hand extremely rare, and even more so as a hybrid with Cnut’s regular Quatrefoil type. The reverse die is likely of Scandinavian origin, although it appears as an original Cricklade Quatrefoil, Hildred does not appear to be an authentic moneyer for this mint. Among the hundreds of imitative dies recorded by Malmer, there is only one other die in the name of Hildred. This other die (Malmer 9.1914) is identical to the present die, only with the inscription +HILDRED MO EO rather than MO CR. Interestingly this die is linked to a small die chain from the very important Danish town of Ribe (Malmer chain 151). It is not known what the exact relationship is between the two Hildred dies, however, it must be fair to assume they are contemporaneous, made by the same die cutter, and thus likely issued by the same mint. This would suggest that chain 133, including the present coin, potentially could be attributed to the Ribe mint.