A quarter of an imitation Carolingian gold solidus found near Torksey, Lincolnshire. © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
A quarter of an imitation Carolingian gold solidus found near Torksey, Lincolnshire. © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

A quarter of an imitation Carolingian gold solidus found near Torksey, Lincolnshire. © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge A quarter of an imitation Carolingian gold solidus found near Torksey, Lincolnshire. © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Imitation Carolingian Gold Solidus (CM.521-1998)

A quarter of an imitation Carolingian gold solidus found near Torksey, Lincolnshire

This cut-quarter of an imitation gold solidus is one of 80 known imitations as opposed to 15 official solidi and is a copy of coins issued by Louis the Pious (778-840 CE). It was probably made somewhere in Frisia on the north-west coast of what is now the Netherlands.  The importance of this carefully divided quarter-coin is as evidence for the acceptance of solidi on its actual monetary value rather than as mere bullion in the 9th century; if it were hack-gold it would not have been cut so meticulously. The Vikings would have obtained real and imitation Carolingian coins through their raiding and trading activities in the Frankish Empire.

Object Type

Coin

Date

814 — 840

Style

Ascribed Culture

Original/Reproduction

Original

Material

Collection

Viking Objects

Current Location

The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Keywords

bullion, Carolingian, coin, Currency, Danelaw Saga, Economy, Fitzwilliam_Museum, gold, hackgold, Torksey, trade

Further information

You can see the original at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

This object is related to Torksey, Lincolnshire.
Find out about Torksey, Lincolnshire.

Acknowledgements

© The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

References

The Fitzwilliam Museum

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