This coin is an issue of Henry II (1154-1189) and corresponds to the cross-crosslets or ‘Tealby’ type, dating to c. 1158-1161. Numismatists refer to coins of this type as ‘Tealby’ pennies because a large hoard of them was discovered near the village of Tealby, Lincolnshire.

Tealby pennies are relatively common finds in England and most are of a crude style and were badly struck. They were produced by hand-hammering, as were most English coins up to the year 1662. This technique uses a silver blank which is placed between a pair of engraved iron dies and struck with a hammer to produce an image on each side of it, thus creating a coin.

The obverse of the coin (heads) depicts the facing, crowned and mantled bust of Henry, holding a cross-tipped sceptre in his right hand. Around this design, the abbreviated Latin inscription ‘hENRI REX [AN]GL’ (Henricus Rex Anglorum – Henry King of England) can be read. On the reverse (tails) the central design of a cross pattée can be seen, with a smaller cross (called a crosslet) in each angle. A pelleted border surrounds this design. The coin was struck at the Canterbury mint, ‘CANT’ being one of several mint signatures used to indicate that a coin was struck there.