14 PAPERS, ETC. 
called the ewergue seem to indicate the place of 
mintage, but the interpretation of these initial 
letters has never been satisfactorily determined. 
Again, with respect to British coins, some of them 
may belong to Somersetshire, but we cannot say 
which; there are only a few which bear inscrip- 
tions, and Verulamium and Camulodunum are the 
only places which seem to be clearly indicated. 
Any appropriation of the majority of those pieces 
must rest upon very slender grounds. The late Mr. 
Skinner did indeed claim Camulodunum for this 
county; andif he did so upon just grounds, some 
of the best productions of British numismatie art 
would be ours; but as this claim has never been 
generally admitted, it would at least be premature 
to cite the numerous coins of Cunobeline as the 
undoubted productions of the West. 
It has been stated that the earliest Saxon coins 
are probably of Northumbria; they are of small 
size and called sceatte, resembling in form and type 
the French coins of the Merovingian race. The 
first pennies appear to have been struck in Mercia 
at the close of the eighth century; and this denomi- 
nation of money (the silver penny) became the 
prevailing one both before and after the Conquest ; 
nor were any pieces of larger size or value issued, 
with perhaps one exception,* till the reign of 
Edward III. 
* The Groat of Edw. I. generally considered a pattern. 
