Kings of Mercia Offa AD 757-796 Silver Penny

Kings of Mercia Offa AD 757-796 Silver Penny

Light coinage.

Various types of portrait, OFFAR to front/

Moneyer: Winoth, London and Canterbury mint

S905, 17mm, 1.19g

A premium coin with attractive style, little wear, good metal, clear legends and portrait.

Recorded with the Early Medieval Coinage database held at the Fitzwilliam museum, Cambridge.

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.