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One of a kind 7th Century gold coin found in field

Katy Prickett
BBC News, Norfolk
Adrian Marsden The gold coin. It depicts a male figure with an oversized head, with crossed legs and wearing a Roman-style headdress or diadem. Its right arm is down by its side and its left arm is raised up and appears to be holding a cross. Beneath the cross on the right is an interlocking design of three triangles. Adrian Marsden
The figure holds his cross above a valknut, which is a pagan design of three interlocked triangles. Similar emblems have been seen on Anglo-Saxon cremation urns

A tiny gold coin that is believed to be the oldest from the Anglo-Saxons in East Anglia has been found in a field.

Coin expert Adrian Marsden described the coin as a "massively significant" find that was struck in the 7th Century.

The design depicts a man dancing a jig while holding a Christian cross above a symbol linked to the Norse god Odin.

The coin was discovered by a metal detectorist near Norwich in the autumn and Norwich Castle Museum hopes to acquire it.

Adrian Marsden A composite image showing two sides of a 7th Century gold coin. On the left, the side depicts a male figure, with crossed legs, a diadem/headdress, holding up a cross in its left hand above an interlocking design of three triangles. On the right it depicts abstract designs with a cross-like shape in the middle, enclosed by a double row of dots, enclosed by a meaningless jumble of Latin-style characters. Adrian Marsden
The 7th Century gold coin is no bigger than a fingernail

"It's the first one of this type of coin that we've seen and new types of shillings just don't turn up," said Dr Marsden, from the Norfolk Historic Environment Service.

"It's got this fascinating iconography of a little figure with a long cross - explicitly Christian - over the valknut design, which has pagan roots."

Dr Marsden said all the evidence pointed to it being "the earliest Anglo-Saxon East Anglian coin so far known", dating it to AD640 to 660.

It was struck at a time when pagan beliefs were starting to give way to Christianity, and its design appears to straddle this time of change.

Experts associate the design with the god Odin, whose roles in Norse mythology included ferrying the dead to the afterlife.

In the 20th Century, the valknut was adopted as a symbol by white supremacists among others.

The coin dates back to the same era as the famous Sutton Hoo ship burial, which, as Dr Marsden explained, had a mix of Christian and pagan grave goods.

Getty Images The Sutton Hoo Anglo-Saxon helmet is pictured in a glass display cabinet at the British Museum. It is a bronze coloured helmet with holes for the wearer's eyes. It has panels that would run down the side of the wearer's face and down the back of their neck. A young woman with brown hair looks at the helmet from the side.Getty Images
The shilling is from about the same time as the Sutton Hoo ship burial, when pagan beliefs were giving way to Christian ones

On the reverse of the coin is a design that could be a cross or could be a swastika, then recognised as a good luck symbol, surrounded by an attempt at a Latin inscription.

Dr Marsden recently published his research in the Searcher.

"It's plain from looking at the letters that whoever made the die wasn't literate, the letters don't bear much resemblance to Latin - they're garbage really," he explained.

Testing revealed the coin was made from a very high gold content, of up to 60%.

Adrian Marsden Two sides of a later Saxon gold coin. On the left is a close up of a man in profile, wearing a Roman-style diadem or headdress. His left hand is raised and behind it is a cross. On the right the coin has a lyre-shape above two crosses in the middle and a pattern of dots and symbols on the outside.Adrian Marsden
Trophy coins were inspired by Roman coins, showing men wearing diadems (left), but with Christian symbols (right)

Dr Marsden also pointed out it was the second coin in Norfolk to benefit from a new treasure definition on "the basis of national significance".

The government changed the legal definition of the 1996 Treasure Act two years ago, to try getting more artefacts on public display.

A coroner decides if a discovery is treasure and a museum usually gets first refusal over whether to store it.

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