Heading: Henry II Tealby Silver Penny Cross & Crosslets c1162-1163

Denomination: Silver penny, 'Tealby' type

Period: Plantagenets

Date: 1158-1189

Origin: Uncertain mint

Condition: Fine,  better than many of this type on an irregular flan, good portrait for type

Obverse: Crowned bust facing; wearing armour and mantle of many folds with sceptre in right hand. [HENRI:REX:] inscription illegible

Reverse: Large cross with small crosslets in each angle; in centre. a small cross in saltire, legend around illegible

Size and Weight: 20mm, 1.29g

References: Spink 1339, possibly class C1

Features and Provenance: Ex TimeLine auction

The ‘Tealby’ coinage, named as such after 6,000 of the cross-and-crosslet type coins were found in one hoard at Tealby, Lincolnshire in 1807, are notoriously poorly struck, on irregular flans. Only 600 coins were kept for collections and for the nation, the rest were melted down by the mint. They were struck at some twenty-nine mints, but after this issue was produced, most were then closed.

Henry became king in 1154 and by all accounts was a good king. He never learnt English but as the court spoke Norman French this probably didn’t matter too much. He was labelled as scruffy and bad tempered and lacked the charm of his father. However, he can be considered to be one of England’s greatest monarchs, developing the laws of the land and uniting a divided kingdom. He is also know for his empire building in Europe, for which he had a fierce reputation.

He also wanted to stamp his authority on the church, which did not sit well with the then Archbishop, Thomas Becket. This culminated in the death of Becket in his own church by his altar; this horrified Christians and although Beckett was apparently disliked by the monks in life, in death he became a martyr and religious cult.

Fine (F). Wear on the coin and parts of legend etc may be missing or not visible

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Code  RNC531