The Braintree Hoard of Late Anglo-Saxon Pennies

Harold II (1066), PAX type with Sceptre [BMC I; N 836; S 1186], Penny, London, Swetman, Gp B, +harold rex angl, rev. +sγetman on lvn, 1.27g/6h (Bt 81, this coin; Pagan, NM p.192 [9+ examples noted]; BMC 71; SCBI Ashmolean 1100, same rev. die). Gently bowed, otherwise good very fine, light hoard patina over fresh metal
£2,400-£3,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Braintree Hoard of Late Anglo-Saxon Pennies.

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Presented here is a most unusual portrait of Harold; the tilt of his head and exaggerated slant of the crown both serve to give the impression that the king is gazing skywards. This iconography recalls the famous ‘eyes to God’ coinage of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. It is not impossible that this similarity was evoked deliberately. The Anglo-Saxons had a preference for imitating Roman portraiture on their coinage; indeed the general scheme of Harold’s numismatic portrait, with the long neck, exaggerated musculature and heavy facial features derives from the common copper coinage of Claudius. During the early medieval period Constantine served as a ‘model for exemplary Christian kingship’ (Naismith 2012) and we find that his ‘eyes to God’ portrait was reproduced on certain coins of the Mercian king Offa (757-96). Perhaps the responsible engraver saw in Constantine an appropriate parallel to Harold; a ruler whose elevation was contentious and for whom success depended on martial victory and piety. Ultimately however, Harold failed to cross his Milvian Bridge.