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.
