File:Saxon Coin Struck at Exeter.jpg

English: A depiction of the reverse sides of a "First Hand" penny and "Second Hand" penny of the reign of Aethelred II ("Aethelred the Unready", r. 979–1016) with garbled inscriptions and mistakenly described as a single coin struck at Exeter, from the figures decorating the margins of Moll's map of "Devon Shire" (labelled "Devonshire"), the fourth in his Set of Fifty New and Correct Maps of England and Wales..., copied from figure 25 of Tabula I Nummi Saxonici on Page 135 of Obadiah Walker's "Notes on the Saxon Coins" appended to the English translation of William Camden's Britannica. Its note there states "The twenty-fifth is like unto this reverse on both sides, but of what prince unknown; it is read Tuna moneta Eaxceaster, as I conceive. I cannot make sense of the reverse." The previous note had stated "24. The twenty-fourth, Ethelred rex anglorum, seems not to have been one of the West Saxons; the first of whom is commonly written Aethered; the second is neither in countenance nor habit like this. There are mentioned in our histories an Ethelred, successor to his brother Wulfred in Mercia: another the son of Mollo; another of Eandred, of whom we have already spoken. He is said to have married Leofrun, mother to Ethelbert, murdered by Offa; and to have reigned fifty years: little besides is known of him. The reverse seems to be a devout acknowledgment of his being sustained by the hand of almighty God, who is Alpha and Omega. Who Holizard was, not known. This seems coined at Norwich."

The extended hand (manus porrecta) is the Hand of God (manus Dei) or Providence (manus Providentiae). The Greek letters overbar capital alpha (Α but minted in the form of a lambda Λ in the manner of Old English As of the period) and overbar lowercase omega (ω) on each side are copied from Byzantine currency of the era, in reference to Jesus Christ saying "I am the Alpha and Omega" in Revelation 22:13 in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Cf. Ian Stewart (28 Oct. 1970), "The Exeter Mint and Its Moneyers", Catalogue of the R.P.V. Brettell Collection of Coins of Exeter and Civil War Issues of Devon, pp. 9–12.
Notes: The first coin is the reverse of a First Hand silver penny struck at Exeter by the moneyer Tuna at some point in the first years of Aethelred's reign, 979–985. Surviving examples show the actual inscription to have been + TVNA MO EAXECEST, + TVNA M–O EAXECEST, or + TVNA M‾O EAXECEST, abbreviating either Tuna Monetarius Eaxecestre (Anglicized Medieval Latin for "Tuna, Moneyer at Exeter") or Tuna Moneta Eaxecestre ("This Coin [Made by] Tuna at Exeter"). The pellet in the sky above the wrist marks this as the Southern B (Sb) form in the classification of Michael Dolley & al. provided in "The Regional Pattern of Die-Cutting Exhibited by the First Hand Pennies of Aethelraed II Preserved in the British Museum", British Numismatic Journal, Vol. 47 (1977), p. 63.

The second coin is the reverse of a Second Hand silver penny from some point in the next period of Aethelred's reign, 985–991. While the inscription is too garbled to identify with certainty, it seems to have been based on coins minted at Exeter by Leofsunu bearing the inscription + LEOFSVNV MO EAXE, + LEOFSVNV M–O EAXE, or + LEOFSVNV M‾O EAXE, abbreviating either Leofsunu Monetarius Eaxecestre ("Leofsunu, Moneyer at Exeter") or Leofsunu Moneta Eaxecestre ("This Coin [Made by] Leofsunu at Exeter"). Among other mistakes, Moll seems to have taken the X of EAXE as the cross beginning the inscription and to have misunderstood the actual cross as an N. Cf. Richard Sainthill, An Olla Podrida, London: Nichols & Son, 1844, p. 184.

The obverse of both coins would have been a profile of King Aethelred II with or without a scepter and an inscription in abbreviated Anglicized Latin reading some version of "Aethelred King of the English".

London: Sold by H. Moll over-against Devereux-Court in the Strand; Tho. Bowles, Print and Map-Seller near the Chapter-House in St. Paul's Church-Yard, and J. Bowles Print and Map-Seller over-against Stocks-Market. 1724.