Anglo-Scandinavian imitation of an English penny

An imitation of an English Long Cross penny found in Sievola, Paimio, in 1841. On the front of the square planchet is a profile of a king facing left, and the back shows a long double cross reaching the inscription.

Anglo-Scandinavian coins imitate English pennies, and they were struck in Sigtuna and Lund, for example. The Long Cross coin presented here may have been struck in Sigtuna, as the special characteristics of the mint included striking coins into square planchets. Anglo-Scandinavian pennies did not necessarily have a monetary value outside the region in which they were struck or its vicinity, but the value was based on the weight of silver. The Long Cross penny was the most commonly copied English model, and its copying continued for a long time after the original penny was no longer made.

The hoard in Sievola, Paimio contained at least 200 coins, which had been hidden sometime after ca. 1030. Today, however, only 27 coins are known that can be linked to this hoard. The person who found the hoard sold the coins to a goldsmith, from whom some of the coins were purchased by collectors and later ended up in the National Museum’s Coin Cabinet collection as part of the coin and medal collection of the University of Helsinki.