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Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Record Details

NHER Number:	6881
Type of record:	Find Spot
Name:	Early Saxon coin pendant, Bacton or Paston beach (Bacton, poorly located; Paston, poorly located)

Summary

An Early Saxon gold coin pendant was found somewhere on the foreshore between Bacton and Mundesley in either late 1845 or early 1846. It has been suggested that this object was probably a product of the Sutton Hoo workshop.

Images - none

Location

Parish:	BACTON, NORTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK
	PASTON, NORTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

December 1845 or January 1846. Stray Find.
Found on foreshore of beach between Bacton and Mundesley, near high water mark:
Circular gold coin pendant of Mauritius (AD 582-602). Arles mint but perhaps an imitation; 7th century Kentish work once set around with garnets separated by gold foil. About 1 3/8" [3cm] in diameter.
Donated to British Museum (1846,0620.1).
See 1846 engraving by Fairbolt in Norwich Castle Museum Fitch Collection (S1).
Information from (S2) and (S3).
This object is described and discussed at length in a Norfolk Archaeology' article published shortly after it was found (S4). It was apparently found by an unnamed women "…walking along the beach from Bacton to Mundesley [who] on approaching the boundaries of the latter-named parish…saw something, that glittered, lying on the shore, near high-water mark". As noted on (S3) this description suggests that the pendant was actually found in Bacton parish, as this lies between Bacton and Mundesley.
A similar article was published in the Numismatic Chronicle by the same author in 1847 (S5). Many of the various subsequent articles and publications that make reference to this significant object are listed by (S6), including (S7)-(19).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 19 August 2020.

According to informant [1] this is now considered to be Sutton Hoo work.
E. Rose (NAU).

The possibility that this pendant was a product of the Sutton Hoo workshop is also suggested by (S20), which discusses the object and its ornament at length. See also (S21).
P. Watkins (HES), 22 November 2012.

Monument Types

FINDSPOT (Early Saxon - 410 AD to 650 AD)

Associated Finds

PENDANT (Early Saxon - 411 AD to 650 AD)

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

---	Illustration: Finds Illustrations.
---	Secondary File: Secondary File.
<S1>	Drawing: Fairholt, F. W. 1846. Jewelled Coin of the Emperor Mavricivs. Engraving. Lithograph on paper.
<S2>	Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Early Saxon. Bacton.
<S3>	Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
<S4>	Article in Serial: Stevenson, W. S. 1847. Some Account of an Enhased Gold Coin found at Bacton, near Cromer. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol I pp 193-208.
<S5>	Article in Serial: Stevenson, S. W. 1847. Observations on a Jewelled Coin of the Emperor Maurice, found on the 31st of December, 1845, at Bacton, near Cromer, Norfolk. Numismatic Chronicle. Vol IX pp 131-143.
<S6>	Collection: Norfolk Historic Environment Record Staff. 1975-[2000]. HER Record Notes. Norfolk Historic Environment Service.
<S7>	Article in Serial: Ellis, H. 1847. Letter from Sir Henry Ellis to Viscount Mahon, P.S.A.; upon a Gold Ornament found near Mundesley, in Norfolk. Archaeologia. Vol XXXII pp 64-68.
<S8>	Article in Serial: [anonymous]. 1849. [proceedings of meeting held Thursday, June 18, 1846]. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London. First Series Vol I pp 148-152. pp 149-150.
<S9>	Article in Serial: 1853. Appendix. Archaeologia. Vol XXXV pp 486-496. p 492.
<S10>	Publication: Roach Smith, C. 1857. Collectanae Antiqua. Etchings and Notices of Ancient Remains, Illustrative of the Habits, Customs, and History of Past Ages. Vol IV. p 164.
<S11>	Article in Serial: Warren, J. 1863. Saxon Remains found near Ixworth. Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and Natural History. Vol III pp 296-298. p 298.
<S12>	Monograph: 1901. The Victoria History of Norfolk. The Victoria History of the Counties of England. Vol 1. pp 341-342 and 344-345.
<S13>	Publication: Smith, R. 1923. British Museum Guide to Anglo-Saxon Antiquities. p 61-62; Pl 4.1.
<S14>	Publication: Aberg, N. 1926. The Anglo-Saxons in England. pp 137-138 and 219; Fig 263.
<S15>	Article in Monograph: Sainty, J. E. 1935. Norfolk Prehistory. British Association for the Advancement of Science. Report of the Annual Meeting, 1935. Norwich, September 4-11. British Association for the Advancement of Science. Appendix pp 60-71. p 70.
<S16>	Article in Serial: Leeds, E. T. 1945. The Distribution of the Angles and Saxons Archaeologically Considered. Archaeologia. Vol 91 (Second Series) pp 1-106. Fig 36.
<S17>	Article in Serial: Clarke, R. R. and Myres, J. N. L. 1939. Norfolk in the Dark Ages, 400-800 A.D., Part I. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XXVII, Pt II pp 163- 214. p 184.
<S18>	Article in Serial: Clarke, R. R. 1940. Norfolk in the Dark Ages, 400-800 A.D., Part II. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XXVII Pt II pp 215-249. pp 234-235.
<S19>	Publication: Jessop, R. 1950. Anglo-Saxon Jewellery. pp 119-120; Pl XXVIII.1.
<S20>	Article in Serial: Speake, G. 1971. A Seventh-Century Coin-Pendant from Bacton, Norfolk, and its Ornament. Medieval Archaeology. Vol XIV (for 1970) pp 1-16.
<S21>	Publication: Speake, G. 1980. Anglo-Saxon Animal Art and its Germanic Background.