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½ Penning - Sigurd Jorsalfare & Øystein Magnusson
| Issuer | Kingdom of Norway |
|---|---|
| Year | 1115-1123 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 0.2 g |
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| Obverse description | Two schematic facing busts depicted side by side in crude, primitive relief, representing the co-rulers Sigurd Jorsalfare and Øystein Magnusson. Each bust is rendered in a highly stylised Viking-era manner, with rounded pellet-like eyes and arched brow lines. The heads are separated by a vertical raised line dividing the field, with small pellets scattered around the busts as ornamental fillers. No legend is present; the design relies entirely on the figural motif. The flan is thin, irregularly shaped, and exhibits characteristic hammer-struck distortion typical of early Norwegian medieval coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Two schematic facing busts depicted side by side in bold, deeply struck relief, again representing the joint monarchs in the same stylised tradition as the obverse. The paired effigies show rounded cranial outlines with pellet eyes and simplified facial features rendered in a primitive but vigorous sculptural style. A central vertical division separates the two figures, and small pellets appear in the surrounding field. No inscriptions or legends are present on this side. The flan is irregular and chipped at the edges, consistent with the extremely rare and fragile nature of this hammered half-penning. |
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| Additional information |
Sigurd Jorsalfare and his brother Øystein ruled Norway jointly from 1103, a co-kingship that functioned with remarkable stability by medieval standards. Sigurd's famous crusade to the Holy Land — the origin of his epithet — concluded around 1111, and coinage struck under the joint reign reflects a period of genuine consolidation rather than civil conflict. The Skaare 76 type belongs to a thin-flan bracteate tradition that makes condition survival almost accidental; at 0.2 g, these pieces were never robust in circulation.