REVIEW: THE BRAINTREE HOARD OF LATE ANGLO-SAXON PENNIES: 21 FEBRUARY

The Braintree Hoard proved its exceptional historic value when every one of the 122 Anglo-Saxon pennies offered sold for a hammer price of £325,560, almost twice the high estimate of £180,000. The proceeds will be shared between the two finders and the landowner.

As noted in Noonans’ last newsletter, the extraordinary hoard displays a wide profile of moneyers from those in Hastings and Dover to others in Guildford, Rochester, London, Huntingdon and Lincoln. They were struck under the last two Anglo-Saxon kings of England, Edward the Confessor and Harold II Godwinsson, and the hoard was buried during the year 1066 – within five years of all bar two of the coins being minted.

 

The fact that they were never reclaimed raised the fascinating possibility that their owner may have been killed at the Battle of Hastings.

The highest price of the sale was paid for a very rare single specimen from the Hastings mint which fetched a hammer price of £24,000 – four times its pre-sale high estimate of £5,000-6,000. Only the second Hastings coin to appear at public auction in the last 40 years, it sold to an online bidder. Noonans had sold the other coin in September 2023 for £20,000.

A Harold II penny minted in Huntington sold for £11,000 – more than double its estimate of £4,000-5,000 and an example minted in Dover with a magnificent portrait realised £9,000 against hopes of £5,000-6,000. Also of note was an extremely rare Harold II penny that had been minted in Rochester; it took £8,000 against a guide of £4,000-5,000. 

Nigel Mills, Artefact and Coin Expert at Noonans, said: “This has exceeded all our expectations. The atmosphere in the packed saleroom was euphoric with bidders (in person and online) wanting to purchase just one example from this important collection.”

The two detectorists who have been searching together for 20 years had only found copper coins and crotal bells previously on the field, but on this day a signal from the Minelab CTX 3030 revealed at a depth of only four inches a silver penny that was not recognisable. Half a dozen more turned up in a 30-metre radius and that evening they realised they were rare pennies of Harold II. Over the next few days around 70 more were found by slow and methodical use of the detectors. This was repeated in 2020 with another 70 coins uncovered.