192 



Britain, would not be destitute of that privilege."^ But no 

 evidence of the existence of a Roman mint at York has hitherto 

 been discovered : and it is a remarkable circumstance that 

 among the coins of the emperors who lived and died at York, 

 none, even of those bearing legends which specially relate to 

 Britain, have any inscription or device from which it can be 

 inferred that they were struck at Eburacum, or at any other 

 place within the province.^ 



THE SAXON ^RA. 



A few specimens are extant of the silver coin called the 

 Sceatta,^ which are supposed to have been current during the 

 period that elapsed between the final departure of the Romans 

 from this country, and the establishment of the Saxon power, 

 but the execution of them is so rude that the most skilful 

 numismatists have failed in their attempts to explain their 

 types or interpret their imperfect inscriptions. It is even 

 doubted whether they were struck in this country or brought 

 here by our Saxon invaders.* 



After the formation of the Heptarchy, the appropriation of 

 the Anglo-Saxon coins is attended with less difficulty ; each 

 kingdom having its own currency, and each coin being distin- 

 guished by the name of the sovereign under whose authority 

 it was issued. 



Northumbria, of which the city of York was the metropolis, 

 was the only kingdom of the Heptarchy which possessed both 

 a silver and a copper coinage. 



The silver coins of Northumbria were the sceatta and the 

 penny, and of these but an inconsiderable number of types has 



' Eburacum, by the Eev. C. "Wellbeloved, p. 141. 



2 That counterfeit Roman money was fabricated in. Britaia is shown by the 

 numerous clay-molds used by forgers, which have been discovered at Lingwell- 

 gate near Wakefield, at Castor in Northamptonshire, and other places. 



3 The term Sceatta is purely Saxon, and occurs in the sense of money or pay- 

 ment in general. Ruding's Annals of the Coinage. Vol. I. p. 108. 



* The Silver coins of England, arranged and described, by Edward Hawkins, Esq., 

 p. 17. 



