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Halfpenny - Æthelstan Circumscription Cross type
| Issuer | Kingdom of England |
|---|---|
| Year | 924-939 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Reverse description | The reverse of this cut halfpenny retains approximately one half of the original design, displaying a portion of the circumscription legend naming the moneyer responsible for its production. The surviving lettering, struck in the bold angular style characteristic of the Circumscription Cross type, reads partially as PΛ • VLE [M – O LEG C]F, identifying the moneyer and mint. The central field is plain and unadorned, enclosed by a smooth inner border, with the legend running between the inner border and the outer beaded or plain rim. The hammered fabric shows the characteristic irregular flan edge of a deliberately cut coin, produced to provide small change in the absence of a purpose-struck halfpenny denomination. |
| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Æthelstan's reign saw the first serious attempt to unify English coinage under a single royal authority — his Grately code of c.928 mandated that no minting occur outside a town, collapsing the dispersed, semi-autonomous production that had characterized earlier Anglo-Saxon issues. Halfpennies of this period were not struck as such but produced by physically cutting pennies, which explains why surviving examples with full flans and legible circumscription are genuinely scarce.
North 671 is among the rarer of Æthelstan's type attributions precisely because halves were expendable objects — cut, spent, and lost rather than saved.