Catalog
Thrymsa 'York' group
| Issuer | Early Anglo-Saxon |
|---|---|
| Year | 640-655 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | Stylized frontal bust or facing figure rendered in a debased classical style, flanked on either side by small crosslets. The drapery is depicted as a series of intersecting linear strokes, reflecting the degenerate Roman prototype from which the design ultimately derives. The overall composition is contained within a beaded border, with the design elements exhibiting the characteristic abstract quality of early Anglo-Saxon die-cutting. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A bold pattée or Greek cross occupies the center of an inner beaded circle, the arms clearly defined against the flat gold field. Surrounding the inner circle is a blundered and largely illegible pseudo-legend, composed of letter-like forms and symbols derived from a Latin prototype but rendered without coherent meaning, a hallmark of the York group thrymsa series. The entire design is enclosed within an outer beaded border, consistent with the hammered production technique of the period. |
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| Additional information |
The York-group thrymsas occupy a transitional moment in early English monetary history — the point at which Anglo-Saxon moneyers were actively adapting late Roman and Frankish gold coinage rather than simply copying it. Production was concentrated in Northumbria during the 640s, when gold coinage in England was already beginning its slide toward debased pale gold and eventually the silver sceatta series that replaced it entirely by the 670s.
The specific attribution to York rests largely on find-spot distributions and stylistic groupings established by Metcalf. No mint signatures exist.