Harold II (1066), PAX type with Sceptre [BMC I; N 836; S 1186], Penny, Canterbury, Ælfwine, Gp A, +harold rex anglo, rev. +elfwine on can, 1.36g/9h (Bt 42, this coin; Pagan, NM p. 191 [three examples noted]; BMC 4, same dies). Good very fine, strong portrait, fresh bright metal; the mint very rare in this reign £3,000-£4,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Braintree Hoard of Late Anglo-Saxon Pennies.

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During much of the the eighth and ninth centuries Canterbury was the most significant mint-place in England. By the late tenth century its importance was ‘of a second order’, and in the reign of Harold II output appears to have been particularly limited; Metcalf records it producing just 1.6% of the national output in 1066.