British, Italian and World Coins, Commemorative Medals, Numismatic Books

Stephen (1135-1154), Penny, uncertain issue, probably Durham, Fobund, * [ – – ] * VND: * [ – ] D * VNI ·, bust right, holding sceptre, star in front, possibly pellet before face, [st]iefne R [–] · ·, rev. cross moline with fleurs and annulets in angles, annulets in spandrels, four mullets interspersing the legend, 1.06g/10h (cf. Mack 188; N 916; S 1304). A little creased, nearly fine, reverse better, excessively rare; the variety apparently unpublished £900-1,200

The annulets on the reverse suggest that this is an ecclesiastical issue, like the unique cut halfpenny of William Cumming, Bishop of Durham in the early 1140s (DNW 83, 3846). The Early Medieval Corpus lists four coins of this type but none with mullets in the reverse legend – a variety which does not seem to have been previously noted. EMC 1012.0280 appears to be from the same obverse die as the current specimen