Coin, English, silver, found at West Meon, Hampshire, issued by Henry II, moneyer, Henri, at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, circa 1156 to 1180.

Coin, English, silver, found at West Meon, Hampshire, issued by Henry II, moneyer, Henri, at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, circa 1156 to 1180.

Silver 'cross-and-crosslets' penny of Henry II

Plantagenet, struck in the period 1156-1180

Part of a hoard found at West Meon, Hampshire, by metal-detectorist in 1992

Henry II's reign (1154-1189) can be split into two main issues. The first issue, the cross-and-crosslets coinage, also known as the Tealby issue - the name originating from a large hoard of these coins found at Tealby in Lincolnshire - took place in 1156. As this example shows, the coins bear the king holding a sceptre on the obverse and, on the reverse, a large cross with a crosslet in each quarter. Owing to their being imperfectly struck and the legends often partly illegible, a new coinage, the 'short cross' issue, was introduced in 1180.

Purchased with the aid of a grant from the MGC/V and A Purchase Grant Fund.

Coin, English, silver, found at West Meon, Hampshire, issued by Henry II, moneyer, Henri, at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, circa 1156 to 1180.