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Coins Of The Anarchy 1135-54.

In November 1980, a hoard of over 100 silver pennies, found the previous June at Coed-y­-Wenallt overlooking Cardiff, was declared Treasure Trove at a Coroner's Inquest, and was subsequently valued at £103,040. The Museum bought 34 of the coins and in 1987 through Messrs. Spink & Son added an unrecorded stray. Why should these little, ill-struck, brittle discs claim such a high valuation?

The find was sensational. The Wenallt hoard trebled at a stroke the known coins of the Empress Maud, who in the 1140's disputed the throne of England with her cousin, Stephen; it was largely composed of coins of Cardiff mint, hitherto extremely rare, besides adding the name of a baron, John of St. John, to the numismatic record; it added for good measure the first-known coins of a Swansea mint, including some in the name of another baron, Henry de Neubourg; and in short it added substantially to the record of those troubled times.

As part of its collecting-policy, the Museum already had a small series of coins of the period; but this unexpected addition has encouraged a specialization which has made the Welsh public owners of many interesting, rare, and even unique coins. The author of this picture book, now Curator of the Museum's main building in Cathays Park, had the singular good fortune to have the handling of the Wenallt find, and to shape the collection as a whole. Here he presents the results so far.

Illustrated in both full colour and black and white.

£6.00 + £1.50 p&p U. K. (Ref: b0234)