3.1_CCNB_News36 13/12/05 12:51 Page 1 CCNB Newsletter No. 36 December 2005 The Newsletter of the Coordinating Committee for Numismatics in Britain CONTENTS The CCNB Newsletter is supported by the British Museum, the Royal Numismatic Society and the British Numismatic COENWULF MANCUS FUND Society. The Newsletter appears triannually, and is received by FOCUS ON PERSIA those members of the RNS and BNS resident in the United Ancient Persia in the British Museum Kingdom, and by others with an interest in numismatics and The Robert Speer Donation related fields. NEWS Contributions and information will be gratefully received. Update on the Iron Age and Roman Coin Project in Wales Items for the next issue should be sent to Buried Treasure at Norwich Castle Museum Richard Abdy or Richard Kelleher, Horrid Treasures Conference, Norwich, 17 September 2005 Department of Coins and Medals, BANS Weekend, Worcester, 2-4 September 2005 British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG, A new acquisition at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery tel: 020 7323 8255/8640 fax: 020 7323 8171, In search of the Tutbury Hoard e-mail: [email protected] or A New Curatorial Appointment at the BM [email protected]. OBITUARIES Anyone in the UK wishing to be added to the CCNB EXHIBITIONS Newsletter mailing list should send their name and address to DIARY Richard Kelleher at the above address, or alternatively e-mail him at [email protected]. COENWULF MANCUS FUND is recorded for Coenwulf’s predecessor Offa, but there is less documentation for the reign of Coenwulf, so the coin provides The British Museum is hoping to acquire a unique gold coin important new information on a poorly documented reign. It is of Coenwulf, king of Mercia (796-821), one of only eight also interesting that London is described as a ‘vicus’ (trading English gold coins known from the later Anglo-Saxon period centre) rather than a ‘civitas’(political or ecclesiastical centre). c. AD 700-1066. All but one of the others are already in the Both terms appear in contemporary records, but the use of the British Museum. The seventh is in Lausanne in Switzerland, term ‘vicus’ here implies that in the context of this coin, where it was found. Each of the coins is unique, as is the new London was seen as a trading centre rather than a centre of Coenwulf coin. The exact denomination of the coin, which royal authority. weighs just 4.3 grams, is uncertain, since gold coins did not at The coin is beautifully struck and exceptionally well- that time form a large part of the circulating currency. It has preserved, and provides a unique insight into both the been interpreted as representing a mancus, a term which expression of royal power and monetary developments in appears in documentary sources referring to specific coins, England in the early ninth century. The obverse design is and as a unit of account, and as a unit of weight. However, derived from a late Roman imperial bust, which is typical for both dinars from the Islamic Caliphates and Carolingian solidi Anglo-Saxon coinage of this period. The engraving of the face circulated in international trade, and it is just possible that it and hair is much more carefully executed than is normal for should be considered as a dinar or a solidus, rather than as a the silver coinage, although other fine busts are known on the mancus, since there are imitations of both dinars and solidi Canterbury issues of Coenwulf and his brother Cuthred. The from northern Europe. The weight standards of all three are floral design on the reverse is unique in the ninth-century similar, but the weight standard of the mancus seems the best Anglo-Saxon coinage, but has parallels elsewhere in Anglo- match, and this, together with the appearance of the term Saxon art. The exceptional preservation of the coin reveals mancus in written records, has prompted the identification. details of the preparation of the dies from which the coin has The Coenwulf mancus is particularly important for a been struck, and a preliminary study of other Anglo-Saxon number of reasons. It may well be the first proper gold gold coins with a Scanning Electron Microscope reveals currency coin in the name of an English king, and it is similar details, invisible to the naked eye. This coin thus holds exceptionally well-preserved. Although the obverse design the key to greater understanding of the production processes and inscription are typical of Coenwulf’s silver coinage, the of Anglo-Saxon gold coinage, in addition to its own artistic reverse has a unique floral design, with the inscription DE merit and historical significance. VICO LVNDONIAE (from the ‘wic’, or ‘trading centre’ of A dealer has applied to export the coin to the USA, but an London). This has parallels with a gold coin of Coenwulf’s export license has been deferred until February 4th, 2006, to contemporary Charlemagne, with the inscription VICO allow the British Museum to raise the money to match the DORESTATIS. This is interesting because it suggests that selling price of £357, 832. The Museum has already raised Coenwulf, who was overlord of much of southern England as part of the money, and applications to a number of funds and well as king of Mercia, was probably playing one-upmanship charitable trusts are also pending, but we still have a shortfall games with the most powerful ruler in Europe. Such behaviour of a few thousand pounds. Any donations towards the cost of 3.1_CCNB_News36 13/12/05 12:51 Page 2 this spectacular coin would be very much appreciated. Cheques should be made payable to ‘The British Museum’ and should be sent to Coenwulf Mancus, c/o Gareth Williams, Department of Coins and Medals, The British Museum, London WC1B 3DG. For further information, please contact Gareth Williams, Curator of Early Medieval Coinage, telephone no. 020 7323 8257 or email [email protected]. Gareth Williams The Coenwulf ‘mancus’ (diameter 19mm) FOCUS ON PERSIA ANCIENT PERSIA IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM On 30 June 2005 a temporary exhibition on “Iran before Islam, religion and propaganda AD 224-651” opened to the public in Gallery 69a of the British Museum. This exhibition, which runs until 8 January 2006, deals with four hundred years of Sasanian rule and the inseparable relationship between kingship and the Zoroastrian religion. Coins, jewellery, silver bowls and seals are complemented by photographs of Sasanian rock-reliefs from the heartland of the Sasanian Empire in southern Iran. Just like the Achaemenid Investiture relief of Ardashir I (AD 224-241) at Naqsh-I Rustam, near Persian kings, the Sasanians came from the area of Persepolis. Persepolis They were keen to stress their connection with ancient Persia. Ardashir I (AD 224-241) copied the motif of an Achaemenid While part of the exhibition concentrates on the importance of throne from Persepolis onto the reverse of his coins. The kingship within a Zoroastrian context, another section deals Persian platform throne of Darius, Xerxes and Artaxerxes of with external policy and conflict with both eastern and the fifth century BC appears in combination with the western enemies of the Sasanian Empire. After the collapse of Zoroastrian fire altar on the coins of the first Sasanian ruler. the Sasanian dynasty and the arrival of Islam as the new religion in the middle of the seventh century AD, royal Sasanian iconography continued to influence Islamic art and coinage. In the nineteenth century, the Qajar rulers of Iran adopted Sasanian motifs such as the hunter king and the enthroned monarch on their coins and even imitated Sasanian rock-reliefs. The ancient Iranian concept of the God-given Glory was not abandoned after the fall of the Sasanians and titles such as “Khusrow” and “king of kings” were re-used by various Iranian and non-Iranian dynasties of the Islamic period. Gold dinar of Ardashir I (AD 224-241) showing the Sasanian king on the obverse and a combination of the royal platform throne and Zoroastrian fire alter on the reverse At Naqsh-i Rustam, near Persepolis, Ardashir I chose the site of the rock-cut tombs of the Persian kings to commemorate his investiture. Here, the new king of kings is shown receiving a diadem from Ohrmazd, the Zoroastrian Wise Lord. Both figures are mounted and their horses trample on their opponents: one is the defeated and dead Parthian king, Artabanus IV, and the other is the personification of the Zoroastrian Evil Spirit, who has snakes protruding from his head. Ardashir’s son and successor, Shapur I (240-271), continued with the same tradition at Naqsh-i Rustam and left behind a relief which celebrates his Roman victories over Philip the Arab and Valerian. Throne relief of Xerxes (486-465 BC) from Persepolis 2 3.1_CCNB_News36 13/12/05 12:51 Page 3 In September 2005 a major exhibition on ancient Persia was The viewer gets an impression of the monumentality and opened to the public at the British Museum. “Forgotten splendour of the palace decorations through the 19th century Empire: The World of Ancient Persia” includes objects from casts of reliefs from Persepolis in the British Museum the British Museum, the Louvre in Paris, the National collection. A plaster cast of the Darius stone statue found Museum of Iran in Tehran and the Persepolis Museum. The during the French excavations at Susa in 1972 has also come magnificent objects from Iran have rarely been seen outside from Tehran. The exhibition finishes with a show piece in the the country. They include Persepolitan relief fragments, form of the Cyrus Cylinder, which is hailed as the first human jewellery, coins, tablets and many other precious and rights charter.