10/03/2026
Coin Finds of Special Interest
C**t Penny
Record Number
55159
Date Recorded
Apr 01, 2020
Description
C**t short cross type penny. The coin is tentatively attributed to the mint of Axbridge*, but the signature is partially unclear and the moneyer's name is hitherto unrecorded for any mint of this king's reign.
The mint of Axbridge is the subject of a 1960 BNJ paper by F Elmore Jones (The Mint of Axbridge) in which he notes that the name AXANBRYGE transitioned to ACXEPO(RT) in the mid 11th century. This change might account for the 'O' in the mint signature of the present coin, which along with the preceding 'X' (confirmed by the recorder using direct examination of the coin under magnification) may support the proposed Axbridge attribution. Elmore Jones sought to distinguish between the often closely similar signatures of Exeter and Axbridge, and the presence of the 'O' is particularly helpful in this respect. Of the signatures that he lists for C**t, Harold I and Harthacnut, ACX, ACXEPO CAXNP, CAXSA and CAX are the closest to that on the present coin, which appears to read either C[A]XOI or E[A]XOI, although the bracketed section is very indistinct.
The moneyer's name is clear, except for the first letter, which seems most likely to be 'D' (although 'O' and 'Ð' are plausible alternative interpretations). The name is assumed to end with the letter E, followed by DN** (for ON). On this basis the name DRYNIE (or DRVNIE) is suggested. It is known that 'Y' and 'V' are sometimes seemingly used as equivalent letters within the same name. (Veronica Smart gives some examples of this on page 91 of her 1981 PhD thesis, Moneyers of the Late Anglo-Saxon Coinage, 1016-1042, and notes that although it seems to be intentional, it might merely be an orthographic confusion.)
* An alternative possibility is that the coin is a Scandinavian imitation.
** It almost seems that the die-cutter has inadvertently transposed the letters 'D' and 'O' in the moneyer's name and the word ON.
