Description
Canute (1016-35), Penny, Short cross type (c.1029-35/36), Winchester Mint, moneyer Aestan-Loc, diademed bust left with lis tipped sceptre, legend surrounding, CNVT RECX. Rev, voided short cross, within linear circle and legend surrounding, reads +ΛESTAN LOC ON PINTO, 1.20g (S.1159; N.790; BMC XVI; SCBI 15 [Copenhagen, Part IIIc] 4038).
Struck on an undulating flan on good metal, brightly toned with some mint lustre permeating the outer legends. A very well executed example using rusty dies, more prevalent in the reverse legend inscriptions where the distortions are in the die as opposed to the strike. Near extremely fine, rare with the double barrelled moneyer.
In relation to the moneyer : Old English root name Æthelstan. In this name the first element becomes Æthe not Ægel which is further reduced to Æthstan, Æstan. As a double name essentially Aestan (Aethelstan) Loc. Double Names : on the coinage of Cnut, the second name almost always appears attached to the same forname, with a single exception only with Spenc or Specel which is present for both Aelfwig and Leofstan. There are a few different schools of thought relating to double names, however the ideas (in short) presented appear to be role specific to a) certain regnal years b) bynames and or c) mints where there may have been joint responsibility for a said coinage. The Old English ‘Loc’ is not found elsewhere as an exclusive and independent forename, it appears within Sideloc [Wareham moneyer for William I], but not independently. Locc only presents itself alone on the small flan type of Edward Confessor, otherwise it is invariably associated with Aestan. Smart (Dr) puts forward the argument that it only appeared on the small flan [BMC II] issued by ETC in its solo and non amalgamated form, as the die cutter if he opted for the full name would not find room for the all essential mint signature on the flan. At bottom, there is no sufficient information to encourage the idea of Locc being a name in its own right, and can simply be seen as the shortened version of Aestan.
cf., ‘Moneyers of the late Anglo-Saxon Coinage 1016-42’, Smart, Dr. (1981) University of Nottingham. ‘Double Names’ pp 24-30
