MEDIEVAL COIN

Unknown artist

The coin is a hammered silver penny. It is slightly bent and very badly worn so that most of the detail on both sides is obliterated. Part of one edge is also missing due to ancient damage and the coin has been perforated from the reverse side resulting in a small ragged irregular hole approximately midway between the centre and the edge of the coin.Obverse: Again much of the detail is worn away. Parts of the crown and the right hand curls can be made out. The perforation appears to cut though the lower right of the portrait. Very little survives of the portrait. Several letters of the inscription survive along one edge from 2 o'clock to four o'clock and appear to be (ED)WARD.Reverse: Two arms of a long cross are visible with sets of three pellets in each angle. The perforation is adjacent to one arm of the long cross. There is also the remnant of a possible 'rose' at the intersection of the cross arms. The inscription is almost completely obliterated so that only the bases of a few letters survive along one edge of the coin. At 11 o'clock there is the base of what could be an 'N' a 'K' or an 'R'. At 1 o'clock there is the base of what could be a 'C'.Assessment: The rose at the centre of the reverse suggests that the 'Edward' is Edward IV and that the mint is Durham. It is therefore most likely that the letter at 10 o'clock is an 'N' and the inscription should read C(IVITAS) (DUNOLI)N. The fact that it is perforated suggests that it was taken out of circulation and used as jewellery at some point. (I am grateful to E. Besley NMW for the dating of this coin).