300 PEOCEBDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

IV.

NOTICE OP AN ANGLO-SAXON STYCA OF OSBEECHT, KING OF NORTHUMBKIA. BY JOHN ALEXANDER SMITH, M.D., F.S.A. SCOT.

e smalTh l brass coin whic hI hav e noe pleasurwth presentinf eo o gt the museum of the Society, was turned up on the 29th of May last, in one of the haughs of the river Jed, close to the town of Jedburgh. It wa (witse senm requesha o t t t tha I twoul d attemp decipheo t t y b ) it r Alexander Jeffrey, Esq., Jedburgh Felloa , thiwof s Society authoand , r e "o th Historf Antiquitied yan f Eoxburghshire,o s coursn i w f o eno " publication fincoin e i es Th n i preservation. weighd an , grain4 s1 s troy; t displaysi usuas i s thesn a ,i l e coins legene th , d place vera n ydi irregu- r mannerla , e lettersomth f eo s being turned upside down d otheran , s retrograd r reversed—someo e lookin d soman g ey on anotherewa s a o s ; mako t decipherine eth f theo g n manmi y meano casen y n easb sa s y task. As a specimen of this style of arrangement, I may spell the legene cointh n , do whic follows a s hi s :— Obv. OSBECHT-EEX. . E N N 0 Rev.M X

Obverse.—The legend runs from righ s retrograde o left, t 0 . , BH , inverted, and apparently also retrograde, 0, H, I, inverted, H inverted, a retrograd OSBKOHT-BEX= ; X e; centrn I . f fieldo e a larg, e pellet, wit rudha e circl f eleveo e n smaller one e obverss rounTh . edit shows also part of an ornamental border of pellets, which seems to have been intended to encircle the whole coin. Beverse.—The legend runs from left to right. A cross X, H inverted, partially , S N defaced retrograde, N , 0 , MONNE= ; n fieldI . a cros, s with four pellets, one in each angle. The Eeverse of MONNE, believed to be the name of the moneyer, ANTIQUARIE1 30 SCOTLANDF SO .

it may be noticed, occurs on some of the coins of Eanred, 810 to 841 ; Ethelred II., 841 to 844; Eedulf, 844; and Osbercht, 849 to 862. The annexed drawing of this coin is from the pencil of Mr William Frederick Miller, London a numismatis, t a sengravern a wel s a l d an ; r obliginindebte m ou s a friend hi I gan o dfo t t di membe r r M r George Sim. Osberch r Honoraro 862tt Ou reigne9 . 84 r ydo Memberfro8 m84 , John Lindsay, Esq., in his valuable work on the " Coinage of the Heptarchy," Cork, 1842, says the stycas of Kedulf (his predecessor) e scarcear , thos Osberchf eo lettero e stile tw th ar f r ts lo o rarere On . word HEX t seldobu , thie n entiri m th s (a einstance) generalle ar , y addeking'e th o dt s name, whic spelles hi varioun di s ways Lindsar M . y does not include the form of the spelling on this coin in the list of the " Varieties of King's Name and Titles," which he gives at page 16 of his work e nearesth ; t being OSBVEHT REX• lookingn O . , howevers hi t a , plate, No. I., where he figures two stycas of Osbercht, fig. 36 appears to be a coin of a somewhat similar type to this one, with the exception of obverse th lette e t beinn o th eno rT g inverted ornamente th d e an th , n si e centrfielth df o ebein g different—a star, instea circla f do f pellets eo . The legend is read by Mr Lindsay, OSBYEHT • BEX; from the drawing I woul, almose b d t incline I hav s reaa o dt e t i dspelle d this one, the letters V E of Mr Lindsay's reading, being not very unlike the f e mine reverso e coin Th th C f . ,o eE r LindsayfigureM y s b d ha , also the legend MONNE, but differs from the one I have dfisr.rihprl in the ornament in the centre of field, which consists of merely a single simple pellet. On examining, next, the third edition of the Eev. Eogers Euding's " Annal Coinage th f so Greaf eo t Britain," 1840, letterprese 1 th fin n di s of vol. ii. 283p , , tha alse h t o describe s n exactlnona f o e y similar type to this coin, the nearest being again OSBVEHT • EEX, the same legend as that described by Lindsay; and on turning to his plate, No. II., the " King Northumberland,f so " vol I fin.fig d , iiicoia 8 d.an . n very simi- lar in type to the one now exhibited, and also in the irregular arrange- possibl y letterse men fourte th ma f , Th o tV y h. a letter s a m , reahi y db bimperfecn ea t e Efiftth ; h one, however, is different, being distinctly figured, and read as an B, instead of a C as on the coin now described. 2 30 PROCEEDING SOCIETE TH F F SO YO

othen I r particulars coino vere tw ar sy e mucth , h alike, with the excep-' tion, perhaps, of the ornament on the field of the reverse, which displays simpla e cross withou pellety s anglesan it t n si . The Society, I fear, will think I am entering rather too much into these details of .criticism ; they will at least show the care necessary in attempting to spell out the legends on these generally obscure and difficult coins. familiarAe b s e membert somth no f y ,o e wit ma s h this subjectI , notew fe f mor so a d e generaad l interest, principally from Euding's valu-. able work. kingdom.oe "Th f Northumbria, whic a formes Id wa hy b d abou middle sixte th th t hf o ecentury this ha s, remarkable peculiarity belonging to its coinage, that from its mints issued, as far as is yet dis- covered, the stycas, the only brass coins which were struck by the Anglo- Saxons." " The earliest specimens hitherto known are (believed to be) reige oth fEcgfrithf no , who ascende throne yeae dth th r n ei 670 d an ; they seem to have fallen into disuse after the reign of Osbercht, who began ended an 862n d9 i reigo t t leas84 a ; n i t nonlatea f eo r date have been found." " At a time when most of the necessary articles of life were pur- chase t pricebeneatr da fa o ss considereh w whano s ti d their value; when,- for instance thn i , e reig Athelstanf sol s nthirtr o dfo wa x yo pennies, n a , ' and equivalensheea the shillingpfor one of t , eve smalnso divisiola nas one-fourth of a penny could not be suiHciently minute to answer the com- mon purpose f exchangeo s ; they therefore coined brass s monei t i s ya generally called"—but it is in fact a composition (whether accidental or intentional is unknown) containing in 100 parts, 60 to 70 of copper, 20 to silverf o 1 1 , o witt 2zinc5 f 5ho d minut,an e portions beside goldf so , lead, and .tin. "This mone s termeywa d f stycas,whico o htw were equan i l valu farthinga o et name Th derivefros e i eSaxo.e mLy th y ndb word stycce (rcycce), minuta pars, because thil otheal se f th monero s ywa proprietsmalleste th t Bu thif y.o s derivatio questionede b y e nma th s a , n weighi styc s t inferioe common-sizewa no atth o t r d penniesd an ; minuta pars cannot well be applied to express value, distinct from magni- tude. t musI acknowledged e b t , however" confirmation i , etymos hi f no - logy, that these coine samth s thossa e seeb eo m t whic h occun i r Domsday Book under the term minuta, from whence comes our mite." " All coins of this kind yet discovered, are from the mints of the ANTIQTJAK1ES OF SCOTLAND. 303

Northumbria Archbishope n th kings f o r o , f highls Yorki o s t I y. pro- bable they circulate l ove dislande al th r thes a , y must have bee greaf no t importance in carrying on the smaller exchanges of property." Various hoards of stycas, as •well as single coins, have been discovered from tim timeo et , principall Northumberlann yi neighbourine th d dan g counties, but in these comparatively few coins of Osbercht have been r examplefoundfo , as : , Lindsa ye larg th say en i shoar f 800o d r o 0 10,000 stycas foun t Hexhaa d 1833n mi , non f thio e s king's coin- oc s a hoar n i curred d discoverean d; t Yora d 1843n i k describe d an , y b d Mr Eoach Smith, which consisted of several thousands, only twelve of Osbercht were deciphered.