Kings of Wessex, Aethelred I (865-71), Penny, four-line lunette type, Torhtmund, 0.96g (14.8grs), draped bust right, rev. a torhtm/vnd mon[e]/ta in four lines, pellet-trefoils in fields (Lyons & MacKay Ae1.8 {this coin}; N.624; BMC II; S.1056), several chips to edge, with reddish-brown staining characteristic of the Trewhiddle treasure, overall very fine, rare and with a remarkable pedigree
Purchased from Seaby in the 1950's. V J E Ryan, Glendining, 22 January 1952, lot 710, £4, 5/-. G C Drabble, Glendining, 4-6 July 1939, lot 381, £2, 5/-. A M Brushfield, Glendining, 2 May 1929, lot 26 (part), £1, 18/-. Major P W P Carlyon-Britton, Sotheby, 11 November 1918, lot 1643 (part), £3, 3/-. E W Rashleigh, Sotheby, 21 June-1 July 1909, lot 214, "wt. 14.5 grs.", 15/-. J Rashleigh, Num. Chronicle, Vol. VIII, 1868, pp. 148, no. 2 (this coin). Menabilly House collection, commenced by Philip Rashleigh (d.1811) . . Found at Trewhiddle, near St. Austell, Cornwall, November 1774. . The Trewhiddle treasure was chanced upon by miners whilst streaming for tin on the estate of John Rashleigh Esq. in the Pentewan Valley on 8 November 1774. The hoard consisted of at least 114 Ninth century Anglo-Saxon silver pennies, a silver chalice and other smaller gold and silver objects. Philip Rashleigh, recording the discovery in May 1788, wrote: "[the hoard] contained many of the most curious Saxon coins ever discovered at one time. These with other pieces of antiquity fell out in moving the ground, and some were probably lost in shovelling about the rubbish." He went on to lament: "Those which were picked up were in a few hours disperst about the country, and many of them broken" [sic]. He does however thankfully conclude: "The greatest part [approximately 70] were afterwards collected, and are at [the Rashleigh family seat of] Menabilly in Cornwall.". . Due to the unusual environmental conditions in which the hoard was deposited, Philip Rashleigh noted that most of coins recovered were coated with a copper wash, giving them a distinctive cuprous tinge.. . Further reading:. "An account of Antiquities found at St Austell", P Rashleigh, Archaeologia, Vol. IX, London, 1789, pp. 187-88. "An Account of Anglo-Saxon Coins and Gold and Silver Ornaments Found at Trewhiddle, near St. Austell, Cornwall, AD. 1774", J Rashleigh, Num. Chronicle, Vol. VIII, 1868, pp. 137-57. "The Coinage of Aethelred I (865-871)", A W Lyons & W A MacKay, BNJ 77, 2007, pp.71-118
Estimate: £400.00-£500.00