269, Lot: 571. Estimate $750. Sold for $950. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

NORMAN. Stephen. 1135-1154. AR Penny (19mm, 0.88 g). Flag type. York mint. Struck circa late 1138-1139. Crowned bust right, holding spear-tipped flag / Cross moline; lis in quarters. Mack 217; SCBI 12 (Ashmolean), 281; North 919; SCBC 1313. VF, broken, deposits. Very rare - only seventeen in the Early Medieval Coin Finds database.

According to Mack, "[the] object which replaces the sceptre in the King's right hand on the obverse of these coins has been variously described but the most likely explanation is that it represents in miniature the standard which was carried into battle at Northallerton in August 1138 when Stephen's army, raised by Archbishop Thurstan of York, defeated the Scots. The standard consisted of a heavy mast carrying the flags of St. Peter of York, St. John of Beverly and St. Wilifrith of Ripon, borne on a four-wheeled wagon and crowned with a silver pyx containing the Host." The mint name EV has been interpreted as York (Eboracum), but a mint in France has also been suggested, striking while Stephen was in Normandy dealing with a rebellion.