Millennium Silver Penny of King Ethelred II

Anglo Saxon Silver Penny from the First Millennium

Ethelred the Unready
Ethelred II is famously known as "the unready". This is usually believed to mean that he was unprepared, but actually it is from the Anglo-Saxon "UNREDE" meaning "without counsel", that is without good advice.
Ethelred reigned from 978 to 1016, and was one of the last Anglo Saxon kings. This makes our Ethelred reproductions an interesting millennium coin.

Silver Pennies
The Silver Penny has its roots in the Roman silver denarius, in fact the "d" in £.s.d. stands for denarius, but £.s.d. is universally read as "pounds, shillings and pence". Apart from the Greek Drachm, the English penny must be the longest surviving coin denomination.
From A.D. 780 the silver penny was almost the sole coin denomination for about five centuries, and has nowadays evolved into the decimal penny, incidentally about the same size as its ancient ancestor, the original Roman denarius.

Obverse:
Portrait of Ethelred facing left.
EDELRED REX ANGLO

Reverse:
The very first "long cross" design, with inscription usually bearing the name of the moneyer or mint. The cross on the reverse side became used for splitting the coin into two halves or four quarters, to provide small change in the form, literally, of halfpence and farthings.

Technical Specifications
All dimensions are approximate, and subject to tolerance.
Diameter: 20 mm
Weight: 1.6 grams
Alloy 92.5% silver

Availability
Although about 40 million Ethelred silver pennies were minted, mainly to pay the infamous "Danegeld", they are rare today. In mint condition, if possible to obtain, an authentic original coin would cost from £300 upwards, even a very worn specimen would be impossible to buy for the price of this superb reproduction.

Price £7.95
US $Ask

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We can also supply
Official British Millennium Specimen Crowns
Official British Silver Proof Millennium Crowns

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