Norman-period small coin · three annulets

Early Norman period attributed; undated · Early Norman-period attribution; issuer unknown

Three small rings in a line sit within a circle on each face. The marginal writing is unread. Brown’s Norman-period attribution is explicitly tentative: it rests on the design appearing newly devised rather than copied from Fatimid money. No named Roger is assigned.

Technical specifications

Composition
Silver / debased silver
Weight
Unknown / not verified
Diameter
Unknown / not verified
Thickness
Unknown / not verified
Fineness
Unknown / not verified
Total mintage
Unknown / not verified
Edge
Unknown / not verified
Mint
Unknown / not verified
Obverse
Three annulets in a line within a circle; marginal inscription unread
Reverse
Same three-annulet arrangement
Inscriptions
Unknown / not verified
Colour
Unknown / not verified
Serial format
Unknown / not verified

The hoards contain 10 National Museum and 13 private examples. Brown gives a mean of 0.28 g from 13 weighed coins. This is a sample mean, not the weight of every example or an official standard. Diameter and fineness are not specified for this design group.

Brown examined the National Museum group donated by Alfredo Caruana Gatt in 1908 and a related private group. Their original findspots are unrecorded. The author regarded them as probable Maltese hoards, not securely documented excavations. Their contents extend from the 1030s to around the second quarter of the twelfth century. This does not date every individual design to that whole interval.

Dating and classification

The hoard association and broad historical attribution do not provide an exact issue year. No annual minting sequence or local Maltese mint is inferred.

Sources

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