Item 1991/1 - Letter from Stewart Lyon with attachments

3 items, paper

Letter from Stewart Lyon, in typescript, two pages, dated 31 October 1991, with attachmenta. The letter and attachmenta concern a coin of Archbishop Æthelheard [of Canterbury, 792-804] from the current Glendining's auction catalogue (20 November, lot 514), which SL described as unique among Kentish archiepiscopal coins of the period in that it carried the moneyer's name (Eadgar) rather than that of King Coenwulf of Mercia [796-821]. Otherwise, it was only after the "Doroverniae Civitatis" issue of Archbishop Wulfred [of Canterbury, d. 832], according to SL, that the moneyers are named. The reverse type of Æthelheard's coin indeed bears an affinity with the specimen illustrated in [Christopher] Blunt's Offa paper in Anglo-Saxon Coins (pl. VII.138). The attachments consist in clippings from the catalogue that (a) describe and (b) depict the coin in question. There is a lengthy discussion of several paragraphs ruminating on the possible explanations for the appearance of the moneyer's name on Æthelheard's coin. SL concludes by stating his intention to copy the letter to Marion [Archibald], Mark [Blackburn], Michael [Metcalf] or Hugh [Pagan] for their thoughts on the matter.