Rare ninth century coin discovered in East Sussex expected to fetch more than £6,000, says auction house

Noonans Mayfair said a penny from the reign of Beornwulf (lot 246) should fetch between £6,000 and 8,000 at its sale of British Coins on Thursday, June 27.

Visit www.noonans.co.uk/auctions/calendar/783/catalogue/489215.

The auction house said a metal detectorist found the coin on September 5, 2021, while conducting an ongoing survey with two volunteers.

In a statement issued by Noonans, the finder said: “It was a lovely Sunday morning, and we were searching in a stubble field as part of a project that I have been working on for 20 years surveying the local landscape. In the past I had discovered Saxon pottery fragments in that area and after systematically searching the area with my Minelab E-trac detector, we had no results, so moved along 100 yards. I promptly got a positive signal, dug down seven inches and saw a silver disc.”

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Noonans coin specialist Bradley Hopper said: “The coin of the Mercian King Beornwulf who ruled from 823-826 has a portrait of the King on the obverse with a cross crosslet on the reverse. It was struck in East Anglia by the moneyer Eadnoth whose name also appears in the reverse legend.”

The auction house said Beornwulf was a Mercian nobleman who deposed the previous Mercian ruler Ceolwulf. They said he rebuilt the Abbey of St Peter during his three years as King. This abbey had been founded around 679 AD and was rebuilt again following a fire in 1089 to become Gloucester cathedral. Noonans added that Beornwulf lost one of the most decisive battles in English history in 825 by the West Saxon King Egbert at Ellandun in Wiltshire. They said this resulted in the collapse of Mercian supremacy and later that year Beornwulf was killed in an East Anglian rebellion.

Noonans said the finder is set to split the proceeds of the sale with the landowner.

A spokesperson added: “Also included in the sale will be 17 gold hammered coins dating from Henry VII to the Commonwealth era. All the coins have been part of the famous Samuel Birchall Collection (1761-1814) for over 200 years.”