SAXON SILVER ORNAMENTS AND COINS. 305 



Thiis it appears that during the end of the ninth century the currency 

 of the South-Western parts of England was composed, as we might have ex- 

 pected, chiefly of Mercian and West Saxon Coins, and contained not a single 

 specimen of the Coinages of the Eastern parts of the Island, except those of 

 the Ai-chbishop, whose influence was as much Western as Eastern ; whilst 

 the currency of the South-E astern territory was composed of both Mercian 

 and East Anglian Coins, as well as of those Kings who are called " Sole 

 Monarchs," but who were in reality (imtil the reign of King Eadgar, A.D. 958- 

 975) only veiy powerful monarchs of the Mercian and West Saxon Kingdoms. 

 As compared with the Gravesend hoard, the greater variety of Coins in the 

 Trewhiddle treasui-e is worthy of notice ; although the numbers are much less 

 than in the former, owing, possibly, to the more remote and isolated position 

 of the extreme West, where Coins remained longer in circulation. And the 

 larger number of the Gravesend treasure would seem to indicate the greater 

 wealth and more extensive intercourse of the Eastern magnates. 



c2 



