Coin, Styca, of Archbishop Wigmund

Add to album

This copper styca was found in a Norse woman's grave at King's Cross Point at Kilbride on Arran. Her cremated remains were placed together with a wooden chest, whalebone plaque and this coin in a stone setting which then had a mound built over it.

The styca was minted by Archbishop Wigmund of Northumbria between 837 and 854, but may have been old when deposited with the cremated remains.

Stycas were low value coins, serving as small change in Northumbria in northern England. This coin may have been included here as a souvenir rather than as an object of value. It is one of only three Norse graves from Scotland which contained coins.

Record details

To search on related items, click any underlined text below.

• Online ID: 000-100-043-834-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.IL 358
• Date: Minted between 837 and 854
  
• Material: Coin
  
• Dimensions:
• What: Coin
  
• Subject:
• Who: Wigmund (Issuer)
  
• Where: Scotland, Bute, Arran, Kilbride, Kingscross Point
  
• Event:
• Description: Styca of Wigmund, found at Kingscross Point, Kilbride, Arran
  
• References:
  • Graham-Campbell, James and Batey, Colleen E. Vikings in Scotland. An Archaeological Survey. Edinburgh: University Press, 1998, pp 96, 144, 152. 
  • 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 26-7. 
  • Stevenson, Robert B. K. Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles, 6: National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, Edinburgh. Part I. Anglo-Saxon coins (with associated foreign coins), London: British Academy, 1966, no. 44. 
• Translations:
• Related Records: