Rare 9c. Exeter Coins Go Home – History Blog

The Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Museum (RAMM) acquired an extremely rare Anglo-Saxon silver coin engraved with the city name “Exeter” for the first time. There are only three examples of this coin known to exist, and the other two are in the British Museum, so it is the only coin that marks the beginning of the modern city of Exeter’s return to Exeter.

A cent was cast in Exeter around 895-899, and soon after, Alfred the Great defeated Northumbria and East Anglia, which besieged Exeter.

On one hand, it claims Aelfred Rex Saxonum (Alfred King of the Saxons) and another Exa (Exeter). It marked Alfred’s identification of Exeter along with Winchester as the headquarters for strengthening his rule as the king.

Alfred’s confidence in Exeter is a turning point in the city’s fate since the Roman era. The city walls were arranged, and unlike the Roman walls, a new street grid was arranged. The city is obviously growing rapidly. By 1000, it was about the sixth prosperous city in Britain.

This example and one of the examples in the British Museum were found in the Cuerdale Viking Silver Hoard near Preston, Lancashire, in 1840. The Cuerdale Hoard is the largest Viking silver hoard ever discovered in Britain, containing more than 8,600 objects including jewelry, ingots, hacksilver and of course, coins. (The third example was found in 1958 at Morley St Peter in Norfolk).

The newly acquired pennies have been owned by private coinists since 1844. It was purchased in 1989 by Utica podiatrist and avid coin collector Dr. Irving Schneider. The Schneider series was sold at an auction in Zurich in May, and Ramm was able to bid successfully thanks to funds donated by the museum’s supporters and charitable trusts.