{"id":16954,"date":"2018-08-06T12:01:24","date_gmt":"2018-08-06T11:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/launcestonthen.co.uk\/?page_id=16954"},"modified":"2020-04-25T12:31:52","modified_gmt":"2020-04-25T11:31:52","slug":"rare-launceston-coin","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/launcestonthen.co.uk\/index.php\/the-place\/rare-launceston-coin\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare Launceston Mint Coin"},"content":{"rendered":"

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King Aethelstan established a mint at St Stephens, Launceston, circa. 935, beside his new monk\u2019s cell; it produced coin of the realm into the reign of King Henry II (1154 \u2013 1189<\/em>).<\/p>\n

The first recorded Cornish coin is a silver penny of Ethelred II, on the obverse of which is the king\u2019s bust wearing a diadem, and + \/EDELRED REX ^NGLOX. On the reverse side is an open hand extended downward, sygnifying the Hand of Providence, and +BRVN M-O L^NSTF.
\nAnother coin is from the reign of Harold I. which has the king\u2019s bust with sceptre and +H^ROLD R:EEDX. On the reverse +G^PINE ON L^HE.
\nAn Ethelred II silver penny \u2013 obverse a bust of the king – +BRVN M-O LANSTF. [ Brun = the moneyer, M-O his office, LANST the mint.]
\nA Harold I coin \u2013 obverse +PINE ON L^E = Gawine on LANSTE [Lanstephen]
\nWilliam I coins bear +S^SGTI STEPHANII.<\/p>\n

Under King Aethelston, in 928, it was agreed only one kind of money should be legal tender in the realm.<\/p>\n

Cornish & Devon Post, 13 July, 2000:<\/p>\n

RARE LAUNCESTON PENNY IN AUCTION \u2018MAY BE EARLIEST CORNISH COIN\u2019
\nThe importance of Launceston over 1,000 years ago is to be emphasised by an \u2018exceedingly rare\u2019 coin which is to be auctioned in London on Friday. The coin was minted in the Saxon mint at St Stephens, and is a penny from the reign of Aethelred II, who reigned between 978 and 1016.
\nThis is the only known coin from this mint outside the British Museum \u2013 the museum has a similar penny which it acquired over one hundred years ago, in 1896.
\nThe London auction house, Spink, which is part of the Christie\u2019s Group, is to sell the coin as part of the John Mayne Collection, which also includes a number of extremely rare coins from the mint.
\nUNIQUE.
\nThe site of the mint is thought to be the area still known as \u2018Mint Field\u2019 alongside the St Stephens Church. The site has never been excavated, although a geo-physical survey carried out in the early 1990\u2019s has revealed traces of some sort of structure under the ground. Peter Rose, from Cornwall\u2019s Archaeology Unit, says that the Saxon mint is unique. It started somewhere around 976+ and carried on until 1160 \u2013 nearly a hundred years after the Norman Conquest.. \u201cbut it\u2019s real significance is that it indicates the importance of the town. St Stephens was the only place in Cornwall to have a mint at that time.\u201d
\nLawrence House Museum, in Launceston, and the Royal Cornwall Museum, in Truro, were both alerted to the sale of these rare coins by their owner, John Mayne, who wrote to tell them he was having to sell the collection which had been in his family over 50 years because of his financial circumstances.
\nIncredibly, just exactly a week before the sale Mr Mayne died at his home in West Sussex, although his family have confirmed that the sale is still to go ahead. In his letter to the museum in Launceston, he wrote of the coins minted at St Stephens. \u201cThe most important is a unique Aethelred penny which may well the earliest coin to have been minted in Cornwall. It is estimated at a high price which may well be beyond the resources of a town museum, but the others minted at Launceston are not so expensive. I remember that you have one or two \u2018electrotypes\u2019 of these coins,\u201d he wrote, \u201cand that I was quite impressed generally with the museum when I visited it 10 or 20 years ago!\u201d
\nCoins from this period were crudely stamped, or hammered, using a die. This means that each coin is slightly different , and the embossed surface is sometimes off centre, or even has a double image where the die has bounced. The Aethelred coin is estimated at \u00a33,000 to \u00a34,000, and is described by the auctioneers as \u2018good, very fine, and exceedingly rare\u2019. It is stamped \u2018BRYN MO LAANZT\u2019 meaning it was by the Saxon \u2018moneyer\u2019 Brun, and minted at Lanstephan \u2013 the church of enclosure of St Stephen. The coin is thought to be from an \u2018undeclared\u2019 hoard, discovered in the East Midlands in 1992. But because the discovery was kept secret little is known.
\nRoyal Cornwall Museum is hoping to bid for the coin, although as we went to press, the availability of grant funding still hung in the balance. Speaking from the museum in Truro, Anna Tyacke says that it is likely the coin was as \u2018Danegeld\u2019*. These coins were not common currency used in normal circulation \u2013 they were minted for tax, and only tax,\u201d she says. \u201cThis would probably have been minted to pay tax to a king up in the East Midlands.\u201d
\nThe Royal Cornwall Museum also hope to bid for a coin minted at Launceston for William the Conqueror. The William Penny is one in the sale \u2013 also described at \u2018extremely rare\u2019 \u2013 and estimated at \u00a31,000 to \u00a31200.<\/p>\n

At Lawrence House Museum in Launceston, curator Jean Brown says that the sale is \u2018very exciting\u2019 but that they will not be bidding for the most expensive Aethelred coin. The Friends of Lawrence House have been negotiating with \u2018the right people, she says, in the hope that one of the coins can be bought. This is listed as \u2018extremely fine, extremely rare\u2019, and with an estimate of \u00a31,500 to \u00a32,000. \u201cWe feel that we should have a go at getting something back into Cornwall,\u201d she says, \u2018and we don\u2019t think that there are any other William the First coins in Cornwall.\u201d The museum also hopes to be able to buy one of the two local \u2018tokens\u2019 which are included in the sale. These were minted for local traders in the 17th century, and Jeremy Cheek, from Spink, says that they were issued because of the great shortage of change at that time.<\/p>\n

FARTHINGS.
\n\u201cThey are fascinating historically\u201d, he says. \u201cThey were also a form of advertising, and we can often trace where they traded from.\u201d The two local ones in the sale are farthings, the first minted for Degory Bewes, of St Stephens with the \u2018Mercers Arms\u2019. This has an estimate of \u00a380 – \u00a3120.
\nThe second was produced for Oswald Kingdom, and contains the tallow chandlers arms. Estimated at \u00a3100 – \u00a3150, this is also listed as \u2018rare\u2019.
\nJean Brown says that they don\u2019t want to raid other projects to find the money, but she hopes a way can be found to bring one of these coins back to the town, \u201cThis sort of thing doesn\u2019t come up very often!\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Excerpt from The Post & News, 20th July, 2000:<\/p>\n

GENEROSITY BRINGS RARE COINS HOME TO LAUNCESTON MUSEUM.
\nReport by John Coles.
\nPossibly the most expensive penny in Launceston has just changed hands in a top London auction house, and will soon be winging its way to a new \u2018high security\u2019 display in the town.
\nBut there was disappointment when a bid for one of the two oldest known coins from the Saxon mint at St Stephens was topped by an unknown buyer \u2013 this was the penny minted before the building of Launceston castle, in the reign of King Aethelred. The only other known example is in the British Museum in London.
\nRoyal Cornwall Museum had hoped that they would be able to afford the coin, but it went for one hundred pounds more than their \u00a33,800 bid at Spinks, auctioneers, last Friday.
\nBut Launceston scored a hit with all three of the local coins that they had hoped to acquire.
\nThe oldest was minted in the time of Domesday in the name of William the Conqueror.
\nThe William the First penny, described as \u2018extremely fine, extremely rare\u2019 was minted at St Stephens and carries a legend which a leading expert interpreted as \u2013 \u201cMoney of St Stephens<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helped by a 50% grant from a source described as \u2018Resource\/Victoria and Albert Museum
\nPurchase Grant Fund\u2019, and money raised by the Friends of Lawrence House, the museum paid
\n\u00a31,400 for the coin. This was slightly less than the auctioneer\u2019s estimate, but the saving here was
\nmore than compensated by the prices paid for two more local coins. These were both \u2018tokens\u2019 issued at the end of the 17th century, says local historian Jim Edwards.
\nThey were produced by various towns due to a shortage of [small] change, caused by a lack of national mintings. Cornwall was unique, says Mr Edwards, because it was the only county where individual traders minted their own \u2018coinage\u2019, but these tokens became extremely rare when most were melted down when the practice was banned by law at the beginning of January 1818.
\nThe two purchased by Lawrence House are both farthings, the first, issued by Degory Bewes, of St Stephens, shows the Mercer\u2019s arms \u2013 Mr Edwards says that a mercer was a general shop-keeper.* This coin was estimated at \u00a380 to \u00a3120, but the hammer fell at \u00a3300. The second token was issued by Oswold Kingdon,+ a tallow chandler of Launceston. This was estimated at \u00a3100 to \u00a3150, but again the tension of the auction pushed this to \u00a3420.<\/p>\n

Launceston Old Cornwall Society has generously decided to cover the purchase of these two rare examples of Launceston history. \u201cWe were going to give something in the town\u201d, says secretary Joan Rendle, \u201cbut it would only get vandalised. We felt that these tokens must represent an important part of our history.\u201d
\nJean Brown, curator of the town\u2019s museum, says that this is a very good result from the sale.
\n\u201cWe are thrilled \u2013 especially since Truro failed to get the Aethelred coin. But the next consideration is how to display these, which will have to be in a new case on the ground floor because of security.\u201d<\/p>\n

The artefacts came from a small collection of Cornish coins collected over around 50 years by John Mayne and his father. Ironically, Mr Mayne died a week before the sale, but he had written to Cornish museums expressing his hope that the collection would come home to Cornwall.<\/p>\n

SHAME.
\nAt the Royal Cornwall Museum, in Truro, curator Roger Penhallurick says that although they failed to buy the Aethelred coin, the museum did manage to buy another Launceston-minted William the First penny. But he says that it is a tragedy that the collection has been split up.
\n\u201cIt is an awful shame\u201d, he says, \u201cthese coins are extremely rare \u2013 no Launceston coins have ever been found in Cornwall \u2013 and the chance of a collection like this ever coming back to Cornwall is remote in the extreme.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cornish & Devon Post 20th July 2,000, (extract<\/em>)
\nDOMESDAY BOOK PROVES JIM RIGHT.
\nIt had been hoped that an even rarer coin would come back to Cornwall but \u2013 as reported in the \u2018Post\u2019 \u2013 Royal Cornwall Museum failed in their bid for one of the two known Saxon coins from the St Stephens mint from the reign of King Aethelred.
\nBut Launceston man, Jim Edwards, who has dedicated his retirement to researching the history of the town, has taken up his pen because he says that the County museum have misunderstood the use of silver pennies from the St Stephens mint \u2013 especially the older Saxon penny which Cornwall failed to win at auction.
\n\u201cWe may not know exactly what these coins were used for,\u201d say Mr Edwards, \u201cbut we do know that they were never used for the payment of \u2018Danegeld\u2019 because we have the evidence.\u201d
\nDanegeld was a form of tax to an invader, and a museum spokesperson has said that this was the purpose of the coins produced by the mint at St Stephens.
\nMr Edwards wrote to the Museum, saying: \u201cI have never found any article regarding St Stephens\u2019 mint which make any reference to the production of coin for the paying \u2018Danegeld\u2019 or any other taxes.\u201d He has now received a detailed reply from Roger Penhallurick, senior curator at the museum which says that Mr Edwards is quite right. He writes:
\n\u201cThe note in \u2018Domesday Book\u2019 reads: \u2018The Canons of St Stephens hold Lanscavetone. There are four hides of land which were never subject to the payment of geld.\u201d
\nHe says no Launceston coin has ever been found in Cornwall, and the few that have been found are widely scattered.
\n\u201cAll Saxon coins are rare in Cornwall, suggesting that most of the county\u2019s inhabitants relied on barter,\u201d he writes.
\nA coin from the same \u2018moneyer\u2019 but minted at nearby Lydford, was found at Mawgan Porth, near Newquay, and Mr Penhallurick says that one of these coins was also found in Helsinki, \u201csuggesting that Launceston coins may have found their way there as \u2018danegeld\u2019 even if not minted for that purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Visits: 104<\/p>\n

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. King Aethelstan established a mint at St Stephens, Launceston, circa. 935, beside his new monk\u2019s cell; it produced coin of the realm into the reign of King Henry II (1154 \u2013 1189). The first recorded Cornish coin is a silver penny of Ethelred II, on the obverse of which is the king\u2019s bust wearing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":26,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16954","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/launcestonthen.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/launcestonthen.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/launcestonthen.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/launcestonthen.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/launcestonthen.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16954"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/launcestonthen.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46607,"href":"https:\/\/launcestonthen.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16954\/revisions\/46607"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/launcestonthen.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/launcestonthen.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}