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Sceat
| Issuer | Frisia |
|---|---|
| Year | 700-765 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Obverse description | Stylized plumed bird or wading bird facing right, rendered in a highly abstract early medieval Germanic style. The body is composed of bold radiating lines suggesting feathers or wings fanning to the left, while a curved beak and simplified head are depicted to the right. A row of pellets borders the design, accentuating the irregular flan. The field is unlettered, consistent with Frisian sceat coinage of the early 8th century. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | ND (700-765) |
| Additional information |
Frisian sceats circulated as the workhorse currency of early North Sea trade, passing through the emporia at Dorestad and Domburg at a time when those ports were among the busiest commercial nodes in northwestern Europe. Their production was decentralized — no single mint authority controlled output — which accounts for the wide die variation and inconsistent fabric seen across the series.
The silver content degraded noticeably across the eighth century as bullion supplies tightened, a pattern documented in metal analysis studies that track the debasement alongside Carolingian encroachment on Frisian commercial autonomy after roughly 734.