An Alfred the Great London Monogram Penny coin from the 9th Century that is one of the earliest ever struck for a united England is for sale at a British collectibles company.
The silver in the coin has a bullion value of just £1.25 say sellers Paul Fraser Collectibles, but this remarkable survival is worth £25,000.
The coin was struck during Alfred’s reign, 871AD to 899AD, and after the capture of London in 886.
The capture is commonly thought to mark the moment Alfred, King of Wessex, created a unified England. The kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia all threw their weight behind Alfred against Danish invaders.
Paul Fraser, chairman of Paul Fraser Collectibles, says: “To celebrate Alfred’s extraordinary achievement in claiming London, he immediately commissioned a coin. A coin we know today as the Alfred the Great London Monogram Penny.
“This is the first coin of a unified England. It marks the moment England becomes England. And King Alfred rules the land.”
To this day, the Royal Mint marks the striking of this coin as its first act and the date of its founding.
The design is simple by modern standards.
The obverse shows Alfred, depicted in the style of a Roman emperor, and named as “ELFRED RE” or King Alfred.
Alfred, every inch the ruler of his lands and clearly shown on this 9th Century silver penny.
On the reverse a “LONDONIA” monogram, ringed with the name of Tilevine, who made the coin.
Paul Fraser says: “It is in spectacularly good condition – so important when determining value. It’s independently graded as extremely fine. The quality of the strike is stunning.
“This is, arguably, the best example of this coin you will ever come across.”
Just 163 London Monogram pennies are known to survive, with 43 of these naming Tilevine.
The majority are in museum collections.
This one was sold at Sotheby’s in 1916 for £7 and has subsequently passed through a number of well-known private collections via the best-known auction houses in numismatics.
“Its numismatic value is of such a level, that I doubt I will ever hold its like again,” says Mr Fraser.
Pennies are the archetypal British coin, and for a long time they were the only ones. Very few are rare, as they were the lifeblood of everyday economic life.
One of the rarest is a 1933 George V penny, of which only seven were struck. An example sold for $240,000 in 1933.
Earlier this year, significant sales of late Roman and Saxon coins found by metal detectorists have been made.
Gold and silver coins found in Suffolk dating from 206BC to 47Ad made £132,865 at auction in September. A horde of Saxon pennies found in Somerset and dating back to around the time of the Battle of Hastings was bought for the nation for £4.3 million in October.
This coin would add distinction to many British collections.
