Noonans
Auction 264 15-16 Nov 2022
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English Hammered Coins from Various Properties
Harold I (1035-1040), Penny, Jewel Cross type, Lincoln, Mathan Balluc, nadan ballvc o lin, 1.12g/12h (Talvio L1b; Smart p.444; SCBI Stockholm 312; Mossop –; BEH –; N 802; S 1163). Flan creased, otherwise better than very fine and dark toned; the moneyer's name very unusual and rare £1,200-£1,500
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Veronica Smart discusses this moneyer (Matathan Balluc) in her article 'Osulf Thein and others: Double Moneyers' names on the Late Anglo-Saxon Coinage' in SiLASC, presenting two possible interpretations for this figure's byname. One, rather amusing, possibility is that the epithet relates to the OE bealluc or 'testicle'. Alternatively, the byname may derive from the Celtic balach or 'boy'. Smart viewed the latter as the more likely, given the Irish origin of the moneyer's initial name, although that is not to say that Matathan's contemporaries would have recognised its cosmopolitan origin.
Harold I (1035-1040), Penny, Jewel Cross type, Lincoln, Mathan Balluc, nadan ballvc o lin, 1.12g/12h (Talvio L1b; Smart p.444; SCBI Stockholm 312; Mossop –; BEH –; N 802; S 1163). Flan creased, otherwise better than very fine and dark toned; the moneyer's name very unusual and rare £1,200-£1,500
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Veronica Smart discusses this moneyer (Matathan Balluc) in her article 'Osulf Thein and others: Double Moneyers' names on the Late Anglo-Saxon Coinage' in SiLASC, presenting two possible interpretations for this figure's byname. One, rather amusing, possibility is that the epithet relates to the OE bealluc or 'testicle'. Alternatively, the byname may derive from the Celtic balach or 'boy'. Smart viewed the latter as the more likely, given the Irish origin of the moneyer's initial name, although that is not to say that Matathan's contemporaries would have recognised its cosmopolitan origin.