COINS OF NORTHUMBRIA
The kings of Northumbria issued coins for almost 200 years during the 7th and 9th centuries. Some of the earliest, known as sceats (pronounced shee-ats) were struck in good silver and carried the name of the king on the obverse, and an image of a fantastic ‘quadruped’ – a mythical beast thought to be a dog, lion or stag – on the reverse.
With a diameter about half that of our current 1p, sceats were issued in the names of a succession of kings including Aldfrith, Eadberht, Alcred, Aethelred and Aelfwald between the years AD 685 and
