Rare 7th Century Gold Coin Depicting a Dancing Man Found in English Field

A metal detectorist discovered a rare gold coin from the seventh century in an English field. The coin is the first schilling of its kind ever found and includes a depiction of a man dancing.

A metal detectorist has located a rare gold coin from the seventh century in an English field. The small coin, which is no larger than a fingernail, was spotted in the fall and has been identified by coin expert Adrian Marsden of the Norfolk Historic Environment Service.

>Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

>A metal detectorist discovered a rare gold shilling from the seventh century in an English field.

>The coin is the first schilling of its kind ever found and includes a depiction of a man dancing.

>The newly discovered shilling tested at about 60 percent gold content.

The decorated schilling is part of a series of seventh-century coins that have been turning up in the same area, located in an area that has yielded other seventh-century coins.

In an article for The Searcher, Marsden wrote that the coin is the first of its kind ever found. “It’s of a wholly new type, undoubtedly English—and East Anglian,” he wrote, adding that it’s likely from the seventh century A.D., likely between 640 and 660 A.D., when the founders of the kingdom of East Anglia were introducing Christianity to the land.

The schilling is patterned after a series of knell shillings located in the same area. This one stands out for the design that packs plenty in a small space.

“The obverse of this one has a man, with rather oversized head, performing what appears to be a jig with his legs crossed whilst placing a cross, held out in his left hand, over an odd design composed of three interlocked triangles,” Marsden wrote.

He said the Christian elements with the cross are obvious, inspired by the standard depiction of Christian emperors of the late Roman empire. The interlinked triangles are better known as a valknut, a pagan design that has an uncertain meaning. They could be associated with the Scandinavian god Odin, who helped bring the dead to the afterlife, but the expert calls that “speculation,” since nobody is quite sure what the valknut—the word is a modern compound meaning knot of those fallen in battle—symbol really stands for.

The other side includes a cross-like design enclosed by a border of small pellets. The questions surrounding the symbolism point to a time where both Pagan and Christian images were used, Marsden says. The unique design could be a form of a cross or even a swastika, which at the time was likely a good luck symbol. The coin also had a poor attempt at a Latin-style inscription that Marsden said really didn’t amount to any language.

The coin was tested for purity, and all results rendered it with a gold content of over 56 percent to over 60 percent, in line with a modern-day wedding ring, giving the coin a pure look that would have likely been uncommon in the seventh century.

Under the nation’s updated Treasure Act, the coin will likely be displayed at a museum, possibly the Norwich Castle Museum.

“I think that this shilling does stand at the head of an East Anglian Royal coinage that quickly—as the kingdom became Christian—got rid of the valknut and retained the cross,” Marsden surmised about the provenance. “The new coin straddles two eras, the Pagan and the Christian.”