158 



THE TMIWORTH TREASURE TROVE. 



William I. William II. (?) 



(Hawkins 212.) (Hawkins 244.) (Hawkins 245, 246.) 



Worcester. 

 BALDRIC ON PIHR 

 ESTMiER ON PIHR 



BALDRIC ON PIHR 

 ESTM.T3R ON PIH 

 ESTM7ER ON PIHR 

 GODPINE ON PIHR 

 SEPINE ON PHRI* 



Speculation as to the cause of the deposit in the place where it was 

 found would be futile. There is no doubt it was a local hoard from the 

 number of coins of the Tamworth mintage, and a few notes on the 

 Tamworth Mint wiU properly conclude this article. 



The revered historian of Tamworth, Charles FeiTers Palmer, saya 

 that the name as a place of mintage first appears upon a penny of 

 Eadweard the Martyr, (975,) as TAN WO. A coin of Canute the Great 

 is mentioned by Pitt in his Histoi-y of Staifordshire, having on the 

 reverse EDRIC ON TAM ; i.e., " Ediic, Moneyer in Tamworth." 



The next reign of which coins of Tamworth are extant is that of 

 Edward the Confessor, in which the name appears as TON VV VRTH and 

 TONWYRTH. The only specimen of the Confessor's coinage issued 

 from Tamworth with which Palmer was acquainted, is a silver penny, 

 bearing on the obverse the inscription EDWARD REX, and on the 

 reverse, BRVNING ON TAM. 



I am indebted to Mr. J. Thompson for the use of the block of this 

 coin, which was cut for Palmer's Histoiy of Tamworth. 





Fig. 7.— Silver Penny of Edward the Confessor. 



Ruding mentions some coins of Harold bearing the contraction 

 TAN, which he conjectured to be either Tamworth, or Taunton in 

 Somersetshire. 



After the Conquest, says Palmer, the Royal Mint at Tamworth was 

 in activity until the time of Henry I., in whose reign it was discontinued. 

 (Ruding). Through Mr. Thompson's kindness I am also enabled to give 

 a representation of another Tamworth coin of WiUiam the Conqueror, 

 (or WiUiam Rufus ?), which differs from those in our recent find. 



Fig. 8. — Silver Penny of William I. (or II. ?). 



* In each case the Saxon character, the Wen is used for W, and in this article 

 the Komau I', which it resembles, is substituted. 



