Kings of Northumbria Aelfwald I Silver Sceat 779-788AD Very Rare

Kings of Northumbria Aelfwald I Silver Sceat 779-788AD Very Rare

S851, 12x13mm, 1.08g

Ælfwald (c. 779-788) – one of King Eadberht’s grandsons by descent, little is known of Ælfwald’s reign except how it ended – with the murder of both himself and his two sons. Buried at the Abbey of Hexham, he was the subject of a local saint-cult. His coins are some of the last to depict the Northumbrian ‘fantastic beast’ before it disappeared from the numismatic record as a motif.