Penny - Eadberht with king Offa

Eadberht Præn — not to be confused with the Kentish king of the same name — held the see of London in the late eighth century, and this penny belongs to a class of episcopal coinages struck under royal authority. Offa of Mercia exercised tight control over currency production across his sphere of influence, and the naming of both bishop and king on a single coin reflects that arrangement precisely: ecclesiastical issuers operated mints only with Mercian sanction.

North 278 is among the scarcer of the joint-name types in the series, with relatively few dies recorded.