WIGRÆD Long Tailed Æ (ÆL) Groups One and Four.

This group comprised of thirteen coins with a right facing bust and one coin with a left facing bust, a total of fourteen coins. There are six different obverse types and four types of reverse. The iconography on the obverse of three coins was unclear to the extent that classification was not objectively possible. 

If you have a coin you wish to research look at the Obverse first of all. Below is a chart showing the classification of  “Long tailed Æ” Sceatta. Some of the differences are minor such as a pellet within an annulet. When flans are centrally struck occasionally peripheral iconography is not easily visible, if a flan has a very offset strike, say to the left, sometimes the  iconography on the right side can be more obviously visible. These coins were struck from dies that were cut by people with somewhat limited technology, the R 10’s were struck just before 749 AD. They usually measure on 12 mm in diameter. Most of these coins have been “lost” for about 1,280 years and are damaged and worn, sometimes symbols  and characters become distorted and difficult to interpret.

ÆL type one obverse has two pellets behind the bottom left annulet below the ear.  It doesn’t appear to have pellets within the annulets. The strike, offset to the right, allows observation of the symbols on the lefthand side of the flan. Numbers i.e. 1/1 indicates the type of Obverse and the type of Reverse. The type one reverse does not have a pellet within the central annulet.

Coin ID 01 ÆL 1/1

Image by permission of Dr T Abramson

ÆL type two obverse does not have pellets within the annulets. The central strike of the flan does not allow observation of symbols on the outer periphery.

Coin ID 31 R 10 ÆL 2/1

Timms Collection

ÆL type three obverse has pellets within the annulets. There is a small angled line ending in a pellet below the ear. The type two reverse also has a pellet within the central annulet.

Coin ID 06 R 10 ÆL 3/2

Image by permission of  Bob Green

ÆL type four obverse does not have pellets within the annulets. The reverse of this coin is a type three, it has four “L’s” around a central annulet, in between each of the “L’s” is a short line ending in a pellet. There is a pellet  in the central annulet. A line ending in a pellet is referred to as “Pommée”.

Coin ID 04 R 10 ÆL 4/3

Image by permission of Dr T Abramson

Images of ÆL type five obverse can be seen in SCBI Sylloge 63 of the British Museum by Gannon 2013 Brit Mus Press, Plate 30. Copyright does not allow publication of actual coin images on this site. There are two coins in the ÆL type five group, both ÆL 5/2. The diagram below shows what they look like.

ÆL  5/2 Coins ID 13 and ID 14.

Images of ÆL type six obverse can be seen on the EMC Fitzwilliam website  https://emc.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/advanced-search

then insert the EMC/SCBI number in the box “EMC Number/SCBI Number”. Copyright does not allow publication of actual coin images on this website.

ÆL 6/1 coin ID 45