Offa (A.D. 757-796) (but coins from A.D. 770 onwards); Cynethryth (Queen, wife of Offa); Coenwulf (A.D. 796-821); Ceolwulf I (A.D. 821-823); Beornwulf (A.D. 823-825); Ludica (A.D. 825-827); Wiglaf (A.D. 827-840); Berhtwulf (A.D. 840-852); Burgred (A.D. 852-874); Ceolwulf II (A.D. 874-877)

Roughly speaking, the 7th century was the age of Northumbrian ascendance, with Mercia playing second fiddle. In the 8th century these roles reversed. The most powerful and well known of the Mercian kings was Offa. A successful warrior he defeated kings in Sussex, Anglia, and Wessex, proclaiming himself King of the English. Offa obtained the Kingdom of Mercia in A.D. 757, after, driving out Beornred, who had succeeded a few months earlier on the murder of Ethelbald. He traced his descent from Pybba, the father of Penda, through Eowa, brother of that king, his own father's name being Thingferth. In 779 he was at war with Cynewulf of Wessex from whom he wrested Bensington. In 789 Offa secured the alliance of Berhtric of Wessex by giving him his daughter Eadburg in marriage. In 794 he killed /Ethelberht of East Anglia, though some accounts ascribe the murder to Cynethryth, the wife of Offa. Offa died after a reign of thirty-nine years and was succeeded by his son Ecgferth.

Silver, 1.21 grams; 16.72 mm. Light Coinage, Circa 780? - 792 A.D. Obverse: OFFA REX, Side portrait of Offa facing right with a triple branched sprig in front. Reverse: Cross within inner circle, petalled flower outside containing +/D/V/D, Moneyer Dudda at London. Recorded with the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge University as: EMC: 2008.0245. S 905. No examples of this flower type reverse recorded on both the EMC and the SCBI.

Silver, 1.21 grams; 16.72 mm. Light Coinage, Circa 780? - 792 A.D. Obverse: OFFA REX, Side portrait of Offa facing right with a triple branched sprig in front. Reverse: Cross within inner circle, petalled flower outside containing +/D/V/D, Moneyer Dudda at London. Recorded with the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge University as: EMC: 2008.0245. S 905. No examples of this flower type reverse recorded on both the EMC and the SCBI. SOLD

Dr Martin Allen at the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge University writes: "The Offa penny (EMC 2008.0245) is of a new reverse variety. It is from the same obverse die as Chick, Coinage of Offa, no. 19c (ex Grantley 823; and ex Montagu 178), but the reverse has curves enclosing the letters as well as the lobes. This produces the effect of a floral design, rather than a lobed cross".

Anna Gannon Author of the Iconography of Early Anglo Saxon Coinage writes: "The introduction of an epigraphic coinage is one of Offa’s innovations conforming to current Anglo Saxon and Continental practice, but the integration of the lettering into the overall pattern of the reverses is distinctive, and the variations on the design is extraordinary....Amongst the most interesting designs on coins of Offa are four-lobed crosses, a classical pattern of segments of arches touching at one point and forming linked chains, often found on mosaics and other artefacts. Four-lobed cross are sometimes combined with delicate trefoils, and vegetation motifs are also used as terminals in their own right, and on some coins of Dud and Ethilvald a triple branched sprig is placed in front of Offa’s bust on the obverse, which locket interprets as a palm, a sign of victory and peace".

The oppressive Coenwulf succeeded to the throne on the death of Ecgfrith, son of Offa. In 798 he invaded Kent, deposed and imprisoned Eadberht Prien, and made his own brother Cuthred king. Cutlired reigned in Kent from 798 to 807, when he died, and Ccefiwulf seems to have taken Kent into his own hands. Coenwulf may have instigated the raid of %7Elthelmund, earl of the Hwicce, upon the accession of Ecgberht. He died in 821, and was succeeded by his brother Ceolwulf I.