Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Electronic Auction 483 6 Jan 2021
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ANGLO-SAXON, Kings of Northumbria. Æthelred I. First reign, 774-779/80. AR Sceat (13mm, 1.18 g). York mint; Cuthgils, moneyer. ED + ΓRED around short cross pattée / CVD CLS, 'shrine': cross potent on pelleted triangular base. Booth, Sceattas 34-8; Pirie, Guide 3.1f; North 184; SCBC 857. Lightly toned, some porosity, rim bend with subsequent fractures. Near VF. Very rare.
This exceptional type was once thought to depict the Shrine of St. Cuthbert, based on an interpretation of the reverse legend as SCT CVÐ. However, current scholarship agrees that the type belongs firmly to the series of small bronze stycas bearing the names of moneyers, and that the legend is more properly interpreted as the CVD CLS, for the moneyer Cuthgils (or Cudcils, depending on the transliteration). In this context, the coin should be appreciated as an intriguing and novel type issued by a moneyer with an experimental bent. In SCBI 68, Stewart Lyon suggests this 'shrine' type could have been issued to commemorate the attack on Lindisfarne, and therefore date to 793-6.
This exceptional type was once thought to depict the Shrine of St. Cuthbert, based on an interpretation of the reverse legend as SCT CVÐ. However, current scholarship agrees that the type belongs firmly to the series of small bronze stycas bearing the names of moneyers, and that the legend is more properly interpreted as the CVD CLS, for the moneyer Cuthgils (or Cudcils, depending on the transliteration). In this context, the coin should be appreciated as an intriguing and novel type issued by a moneyer with an experimental bent. In SCBI 68, Stewart Lyon suggests this 'shrine' type could have been issued to commemorate the attack on Lindisfarne, and therefore date to 793-6.