★ Interesting Offering ★

Denmark, Erik Menved, 1286-1319, lot of 8 penning (MB 430 x4, MB 431 x2 and MB 463 x2), various quality.

Highly interesting lot of eight danish pennies from the time of Eric Menved. Traditionally these types were attributed to the Nørrejylland and Slesvig mints, however, today all three types are believed to be forgeries minted on the Danish island of Hjelm. This small island, located in the strait of kattegat, was occupied by exiled army marshal (marsk) Stig Andersen Hvide and his band of outlaws in the period 1290-1306. In the Danish national archives there are preserved letters from this time, correspondence between king Eric Menved and pope Bonifatius VIII. Eric Menved tells the pope that marshal Stig and his band of outlaws kidnapped some of his loyal mintmasters and forced them to mint copper imitations of his coins on the island of Hjelm, with the purpose of destabilizing the Danish monetary economy. Marshal Stig died in 1293, the production of fake coins ceased in 1295 after an accord was made between the remaining outlaws and Erik Menved, and in 1306 the island strongholds and fortifications were finally cleared by the king's soldiers. This narrows the date of these coins to 1290-1295. During recent archaeological excavations on Hjelm, Danish archaeologists have located the actual forgery mint, complete with tools, materials in various stages of manufacture and even a die stamp (reference - in Danish - "Udmøntningerne på Hjelm" by Jens Vellev, 2002).

The condition of the coins are typical of the low quality copper imitations produced on Hjelm. The original find location of the coins in this lot is unfortunately unknown, however, they undoubtedly originate from the outlaw mint on Hjelm and were distributed from there as part of the outlaws strategy of undermining the danish economy. This lot represents a truly historically important collection of coins, fully deserving of further numismatic study.