A depiction of the reverse sides of a "First Hand" penny and "Second Hand" penny of the reign of Aethelred II ("Aethelred the Unready", r. 979–1016) with garbled inscriptions and mistakenly described as a single coin struck at Exeter, from the figures decorating the margins of Moll's map of "Devon Shire" (labelled "Devonshire"), the fourth in his <i>Set of Fifty New and Correct Maps of England and Wales...</i> The extended hand (<i>manus porrecta</i>) is the Hand of God (<i>manus Dei</i>) or Providence (<i>manus Providentiae</i>). The Greek letters overbar capital alpha (Α but minted in the form of a lambda Λ in the manner of Old English As of the period) and overbar lowercase omega (ω) on each side are copied from Byzantine currency of the era, in reference to Jesus Christ saying "I am the Alpha and Omega" in Revelation 22:13 in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Cf. Ian Stewart (28 Oct. 1970), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/catalogueofrober00glen/page/n3/mode/2up">"The Exeter Mint and Its Moneyers"</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/catalogueofrober00glen/mode/2up"><i>Catalogue of the R.P.V. Brettell Collection of Coins of Exeter and Civil War Issues of Devon</i></a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/catalogueofrober00glen/page/8/mode/2up">pp. 9–12</a>.
<p><br><b>Notes:</b> The first coin is the reverse of a First Hand silver penny struck at Exeter by the moneyer Tuna at some point in the first years of Aethelred's reign, 979–985. Surviving examples show the actual inscription to have been <span style="white-space:nowrap">+ TVNA MO EAXECEST</span>, <span style="white-space:nowrap">+ TVNA M–O EAXECEST</span>, or <span style="white-space:nowrap">+ TVNA M‾O EAXECEST</span>, abbreviating either <i>Tuna Monetarius Eaxecestre</i> (Anglicized Medieval Latin for "Tuna, Moneyer at Exeter") or <i>Tuna Moneta Eaxecestre</i> ("This Coin [Made by] Tuna at Exeter"). The pellet in the sky above the wrist marks this as the Southern B (Sb) form in the classification of Michael Dolley &amp; al. provided in <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital%20BNJ/pdfs/1977_BNJ_47_6.pdf">"The Regional Pattern of Die-Cutting Exhibited by the <i>First Hand</i> Pennies of Aethelraed II Preserved in the British Museum"</a>, <i>British Numismatic Journal</i>, Vol. 47 (1977), p. 63.
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The second coin is the reverse of a Second Hand silver penny from some point in the next period of Aethelred's reign, 985–991. While the inscription is too garbled to identify with certainty, it seems to have been based on coins minted at Exeter by Leofsunu bearing the inscription <span style="white-space:nowrap">+ LEOFSVNV MO EAXE</span>, <span style="white-space:nowrap">+ LEOFSVNV M–O EAXE</span>, or <span style="white-space:nowrap">+ LEOFSVNV M‾O EAXE</span>, abbreviating either <i>Leofsunu Monetarius Eaxecestre</i> ("Leofsunu, Moneyer at Exeter") or <i>Leofsunu Moneta Eaxecestre</i> ("This Coin [Made by] Leofsunu at Exeter"). Among other mistakes, Moll seems to have taken the X of EAXE as the cross beginning the inscription and to have misunderstood the actual cross as an N. Cf. Richard Sainthill, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.fr/books?id=WjtKLD4QfLkC"><i>An Olla Podrida</i></a>, London: Nichols &amp; Son, 1844, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.fr/books?id=WjtKLD4QfLkC&amp;pg=PA184">p. 184</a>.
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The obverse of both coins would have been a profile of King Aethelred II with or without a scepter and an inscription in abbreviated Anglicized Latin reading some version of "Aethelred King of the English".
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London: Sold by H. Moll over-against Devereux-Court in the Strand; Tho. Bowles, Print and Map-Seller near the Chapter-House in St. Paul's Church-Yard, and J. Bowles Print and Map-Seller over-against Stocks-Market. 1724.
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<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Herman_Moll" class="extiw" title="w:en:Herman Moll"><span title="18th-century English cartographer">Herman Moll</span></a>
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1724<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1724-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
Bibliothèque nationale de France