Coins

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These two copper coins survive of the three found in the sand after the excavation of a rich Viking man who was buried in a boat at Kiloran Bay on Colonsay in the Inner Hebrides. They are presumed to be part of the goods buried with him.

Coins were not minted in Scotland until the 12th century. These coins are stycas, minted in Northumbria, one for Ethelred II (841-43) and one for Wigmund, Archbishop of York (837-54). Both are pierced in the centre. They weigh .97 and .95 grams.

The base metal of the coins and their pierced condition suggest that they were not deposited as part of the dead man's wealth. Instead they probably either represented a symbolic death payment, or more probably, were mounts for lead weights.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-000-099-690-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: Kiloran Bay Viking Burial (multimedia essay)
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  Q.L.1924.20
• Date: Between 875 and 925
  
• Material: Coin, styca
  Coin, styca
  
• Dimensions:
• What: Coin, styca
  Coin, styca
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Argyll, Colonsay
  Scotland, Argyll, Colonsay
  
• Event:
• Description: Anglo-Saxon styca from a Viking grave on Colonsay
  Anglo-Saxon styca from a Viking grave on Colonsay
  
• References:
  • Graham-Campbell, James and Batey, Colleen E. Vikings in Scotland. An Archaeological Survey. Edinburgh: University Press, 1998, pp 118-22. 
  • Grieg, Sigurd. Viking Antiquities in Scotland (=Viking Antiquities in Great Britain and Ireland, Part II, ed. by Haakon Shetelig). Oslo: H. Aschehoug & Co., 1940, pp 48-61, esp. p 58. 
  • Stevenson, Robert B. K. National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. Part I. Anglo-Saxon coins. (=Sylloge of coins of the British Isles, 6), London: publisher needed, 1966, nos. 22, 43. 
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