Rare coin is the earliest known object to bear name 'Exeter'

THE Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) in Exeter has acquired an Anglo-Saxon silver penny which marks the beginning of modern Exeter.

- WMN REPORTER

The penny was minted in Exeter over 11 hundred years ago, around 895-899, on the orders of King Alfred the Great. It is the earliest and rarest coin made in Exeter and only three examples are known of, the other two being in the British Museum.

The coin had been in the Dr Irving Schneider Collection in America since 1989, and when the collection came up for auction in Zurich in May it gave RAMM the opportunity to acquire the important piece of Exeter's history.

The silver coin is the earliest object to bear the name Exeter. On one side it proclaims AELFRED REX SAXONUM (Alfred King of the Saxons) and on the other EXA (Exeter). It marks the point where Alfred identified Exeter, alongside Winchester, as the headquarters from which to strengthen his rule as king.