Perhaps some of your numerous readers may be able to satisfy me on a
subject which has for a long time troubled me.
All coin collectors are aware that there are many different reverses to the
pennies of William I. One is commonly called the _pax_-type: and _why_, is
the question.
On the obverse, it is "PILLM REX," or sometimes differently spelt; but "P"
always stands for "W," and pronounced so.
On the reverse, it is P [=A] X S (each letter being encircled), but the "P"
is here pronounced "P;" this is in the centre compartment: surrounding it
is the moneyer's name, with place where the coin was struck--"EDPI (Edwi)
ON LVND," "GODPINE (Godwine) ON LVND," &c. It is very inconsistent that
letters should be pronounced differently on the same coin.
I am rather of opinion that we have not arrived at the right reading, and
that _pax_ has nothing to do with it. It is PAXS, AXSP, XSPA, or SPAX: for
I find, on comparing nineteen different coins, the letters stand in
different positions compared with the cross, which denotes the beginning of
the inscription around them; so no one can tell which letter of the four in
the circles near the large cross should come first. Besides, what does the
"S" stand for, after you get the "PAX?"
I am not a member of the Antiquarian Society, but have asked gentlemen
belonging to it to explain this puzzle (to me), without success. I now ask
them and others, through your pages, to give a solution of the difficulty.