The name Sceat derives from an Old English word meaning 'wealth' (cognate with German Schatz 'treasure'). The name has been applied to these coins since the seventeenth century, based on interpretations of the law-code of King Ethelbert of Kent and Beowulf, e.g. line 378 gifsceattas 'gift-payments'. It is likely that all early Anglo-Saxon coins were known as pendingas, 'pennies' to their users, and that the sceat term referred to stored wealth of any kind. We regularly add to our on-line collection of gold thrymsas, tremisses and Anglo-Saxon sceattas, and maintain a large collection of primary, secondary and Continental sceattas. Please choose from the links below to review our selection of Sceattas for sale.

Featured Sceattas:

During the 5th century some Byzantine and Merovingian gold coins were circulated in Britain, but without a monetary economy they were used primarily as convenient pieces of bullion. The first Anglo-Saxon coins were gold thrymsas, but they rapidly became debased and were eventually discontinued. The first real coinage was the sceatta, a small attractive silver coin first mentioned in the laws of Æthelberht, King of Kent, circa A.D. 600. These thick hammered coins were the only unit of currency for a long period (circa A.D. 675 - 740). Sceattas were a single class of coin minted in England, Frisia and Jutland in Anglo-Saxon times, a truly international currency. Sceattas are very diverse, initially organised into over a hundred numbered types in a series devised in the 1880s, and by broader alphabetical classifications established by Stuart Rigold in 1977.