Anglo-Viking - Southern Danelaw. Alfred the Great Imitative Penny ND (880-910) Details (Chipped) NGC, Bruned as moneyer, S-966. 1.12gm. A quality Anglo-Viking, Danelaw imitation, quite scarce. Excellently detailed, but unfortunately some of the flan has been chipped off. For centuries, beginning about 800, Viking invaders colonized along the eastern coast of ancient Britain, a typical raiding party coming across the North Sea in longboats led by a youthful (often teenaged) warrior. One group of raiders would kill off most of the male inhabitants and cohabit with surviving females, establishing new families in various shires which over time spread westward until about half of the English isle was occupied. Decades or perhaps a century later, new raiding parties would land and do the same to people they considered to be Saxons, even though many had Viking blood in their veins. This was done from Suffolk in southern East Anglia up through Yorkshire and Northumberland. The Danelaw was a treaty which specified the laws for these shires, under various warlords, or kings, and under its tenets silver was coined in various towns and often used to pay tribute, to preclude further raiding. Untold hundreds of thousands of pennies were made, most of which have perished over the centuries. "Peck marks" are often seen on coins of this era, as the silver was tested for purity. Early issues such as this one lacked portraits but are rich in Anglo-Saxon iconography. HID09801242017 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice

To the auctioneer's website