Kings of Mercia Offa AD 757-796 Silver Penny

Kings of Mercia Offa AD 757-796 Silver Penny, Light coinage, Small Flan, portrait type. Moneyer Ealreth, minted at London or Canterbury.

S905, 15mm; 1.06g

Comes with ‘find area’ provenance.

Usual porous silver making this extremely difficult to photograph, coin appears better in hand.

Offa (757-796): The first King of Mercia to strike coins, Offa is perhaps one of the most famous Anglo-Saxon kings – and certainly the longest-ruling (c. 39 years). Although he probably was not the original builder of ‘Offa’s Dyke’ and his attempts to ingratiate himself with the Frankish King Charlemagne ultimately failed – by the time of his death he had built Mercia into Anglo-Saxon England’s powerhouse kingdom. J J North’s ‘English Hammered Coinage vol. I’ encompasses Offa’s coinage within c. 80 different types, which perhaps illustrates best the complexity of his various issues struck during his reign.