Penny - Eadgar Small cross type

Eadgar's reign before 973 saw no unified national recoinage — that came only with the Reform coinage issued to coincide with his belated coronation at Bath. These pre-reform pennies circulated under a more decentralized minting regime, produced across a wide network of borough mints operating under variable standards. The result is that weight and die quality fluctuate considerably across surviving examples, reflecting local moneyer practice rather than central control.

The 973 reform that superseded this type imposed strict periodic recoinages, essentially rendering all earlier types demonetized on a rolling basis.