- Sandur hoard
The Sandur hoard of the
Faroe Islands was found inSandur in1863 and consists of 98 silvercoin s, which were probably buried between 1070 and 1080. Thehoard is the oldestcoin hoard found on thearchipelago .The coin hoard from Sandur is interesting not only due to the age of the coins, but also due to their origin, because it indicates with which countries the Faroers already traded in the 11th century. It is generally assumed the
Viking period ended on the Faroe Islands in1035 . In the following time period, the Faroe Islands came increasingly under the influence ofNorway , which then led to the actual monetary system of the Faroe Islands.Today the coins are located at the
Faroese National Museum ("Føroya Fornminnissavn") inTórshavn and are among the main attractions there.Find location and owner
The coins were found in 1863 purely by accident.
Gravedigger s were digging a grave in the cemetery of Sandur, which had to be particularly deep in order to bury the bodies of two plague victims.The find location was at the spot where the
altar of the firstchurch of Sandur (the second church ever on the Faroe Island) stood. Today historians conjecture that this church was the private church of a wealthy farmer, since in the immediate neighborhood aViking cemetery was excavated. It could be that this treasure belonged to the wealthy farmer and not to the church.If the coins were from a wealthy farmer, the large number of coins from Germany point towards the export of Faroese wool there and/or to
middlemen , who traded with these coins.Index of the coins
*The following coins came from
England :
**3 from Ethelred II (978 - 1013 and 1014 - 1016)
**9 fromCanute the Great (1016 - 1035), one of which was counterfeit
**3 fromHarold Harefoot (1035 - 1040)
**8 fromEdward the Confessor (1042 - 1066)
**1 not further identifiable counterfeit
*One coin fromIreland which couldn't be exactly dated, but is from ca.1050
*FromDenmark :
**2 from Canute III (1035 - 1042)
**1 from the period between 1050 and 1095
**2 counterfeits
*17 coins were of Norwegian origin :
**1 from the co-reign of Magnus I and Harald III (1046 - 1047)
**2 from the time of Harald III (1047 - 1066)
**4 from the co-reign from Magnus II and Olaf III (1066 - 1069)
**10 not further datable coins, either from the above co-reign, or from the time of Olaf III (1069 - 1093)
*50 coin originated from Germany:
**1 from Conrad II (1024 - 1039)
**2 fromBruno III of Brunswick (1038 - 1057)
**1 fromTeoderik of Lorraine (959 - 1032)
**1 from BishopEberhard I of Augsburg (1029 - 1047) with the likeness of Conrad II
**1 from BishopBernold von Utrecht (1027 - 1054)
**1 coin of uncertain origin of the same type, as the above named coin from Utrecht (today theNetherlands )
**1 fromBreisach
**1 fromCelle
**1 fromDeventer (today the Netherlands)
**1 fromDuisburg
**1 fromGoslar
**1 from Hoya
**1 fromMagdeburg
**1 fromRemagen
**1 fromSpeyer
**1 fromTiel (today the Netherlands)
**1 fromWürzburg
**29 others, which could not be classified (as of 1979)
*As well as one coin fromHungary from the time of Stephen I (997 - 1038)Literature
*G.V.C. Young: "From the Vikings to the Reformation. A Chronicle of the Faroe Islands up to 1538". Isle of Man: Shearwater Press, 1979
**ibid: "Færøerne. Fra vikingetiden til reformationen". Kopenhagen: Rosenkilde og Bakker, 1982 (Danish translation, basis for the original German version of this article)External links
* [http://www.natmus.fo Natmus.fo Faroese National Museum] (only in Faroese, no images of the coins)
* [http://www.empressgemma.com/faroes.html The Empress - Faroe Islands 2004] (travel report from an American woman captivated by the coin hoard)
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