Harald Bluetooth’s Coin Found in Denmark

A dramatic discovery was recently made by Danish archaeologists. In the vicinity of Ribe there was found a metal coin with a cross, minted in the reign of Harald Bluetooth in 980.

The coin is especially interesting due to a great difference between the underlying motive of the obverse design and that of the reverse one. The obverse depicts a face surrounded by some curves. Scientists already know this type. While the reverse has a cross type which was not known before. There are three crosses over a triangle; short thin lines at the bottom, and two rounds with dots at the top. Archaeologists have already seen similar versions but this very combination of elements is absolutely new. The find shows that we still have a lot to learn of minting in the reign of Harald Bluetooth, and archaeologists might still discover lots of interesting finds in this field.
 
The coin was found with a metal detector, as a single find. Previously archaeologists found nine coins with crosses on, similar to the just found one, while carrying out archaeological excavation in Denmark. Though metal detectors have been used increasingly frequently during the last years. There are twelve finds discovered in Denmark (nine of which have been found during the last 10 years), and all of them were found with metal detectors. The detectors get upgraded every year, which means that even smaller metal elements can be found. Thus, it is most likely that we will learn of more metal coins found in future.

 

 

By materials of the National Museum