Item 1994/1 - Letter from Mark Blackburn to Brian Kimberley with attachments

4 items, paper and photographic material

Copy of letter from Mark Blackburn to Brian Kimberley, typescript with some manuscript additions, two pages on two folios (recto only), dated 9 November 1994, with attachments including two photographs and copy of a one-page manuscript of notes or comments. In the letter, MASB comments upon BK's "interesting [coin] find from Leicestershire" and writes out the legends to the extent possible in manuscript. He describes it as an Anglo-Viking coin of the 920s with three possible identifications: (i) St Peter coin of York, (ii) Sihtric Caoch, or (iii) a derivative of one of these with a blundered legend. He notes that it is very difficult to distinguish official coins from derivatives in this series, since there are few surviving specimens from this series and official coins often have mistakes in the legends. He goes on to describe the Sword St Peter and Sihtric coins in greater detail, noting that the Leistershire coin corresponds to the so-called "cross" type, which is one of three varieties. If the Leicestershire coin "is attempting to be a St Peter coin", he says, then "it is a very corrupt copy of one". The are likewise three varieties of Sihtric coins, which copy the Sword St Peter coins. The fact that the visible part of the legend on the Leicestershire coin makes no sense favours its identification as a Sihtric, which were struck in the southern Danelaw, but he adds that the T at the point of the sword on one side and in one quarter of the cross on the other is altogether new. The coin is therefore a very interesting new variety of Viking coin, and he thanks BK for bringing it to his attention. He is sending a spare set of photos to Lord Stewartby for his comments, which he says he will share with BK, and he offers to publish the coin with Mike Bonser, adding that the two Edward the Elder coins found some fifty metres away from the Viking coin should also be included in any publication, even if the group probably does not represent a scattered hoard. MASB mentions several enclosures, which are no longer with the letter. These include a paper by Dolley and Moore on the Sihtric coinage and a recent paper by Lord Stewartby and Stewart Lyon on the St Peter coinage. He suggests contacting Dr Cyril Hart in Peterborough to learn whether the site has any Viking connection. In conclusion, he agrees with BK wish that the coin go to a museum, saying that he wouldn't stand in the way of it going to the Leicestershire Museum but suggesting that it would be more accessible and form part of more comprehensive collection at the Fitzwilliam Museum, especially after this museum's recent acquisition of the Blunt collection. The attachments include:
(a) colour photograph of the obverse of the coin (sword)
(b) colour photograph of the reverse of the coin (cross)
(c) copy of one-page manuscript, subscribed 26.xi.94 IS, in Lord Stewartby's hand, entitled "The Leicestershire sword type fragment", concluding that the coin is "a new type variety for Sihtric, from a Southumbrian mint, possibly Lincoln following the St Martins, by a (new) moneyer, perhaps Tancerd".