Glenfaba Hoard Sihtric coin
Date made: post-mid-1020s, deposited c.AD 1035
Description: One of the earliest coins to be minted in the Isle of Man, this is a silver penny with a representation of King Sihtric, ruler of Dublin. It was buried around AD 1030 with 463 other silver coins, 25 silver ingots and one silver armring. We don’t know who buried such a large amount of wealth or why. They never returned for it and the hoard lay in the ground for almost a thousand years until metal detectorist Andrew Whewell discovered it in 2003.
It is from what is known as the Hiberno-Scandinavian/Hiberno-Manx transitional group. These are coins struck from a Dublin obverse ("heads") coin die which at some point in its life was transferred to the Isle of Man and used with locally-made reverse ("tails") dies.
Measurements: c.20mm diameter; 1.32g weight; die-axis 50
Materials: silver
Date found: 25 March 2003
Object name: coin
Collection: Archaeology Collection
ID number: 2004-0123/430
Subject tags : #MM100BEAUTIFULTHINGS