Viking-era Danish coin sells for 136,000 DKK in Copenhagen

A thousand-year-old Danish coin sold for 136,000 Danish kroner at an auction in Copenhagen. The sale price reached 18,300 euros. This was more than double its estimated value. The auction house estimated it between 6,000 and 8,000 euros. That original estimate equaled roughly 45,000 to 60,000 Danish kroner.

Auction house Stack’s Bowers confirmed the sale on its website after Tuesday’s auction. The coin is linked to Viking king Svend Tveskæg. It is the first official Danish coin with a ruler's name. It is also the first to bear the country’s name. Svend Tveskæg was the first ruler named on a Danish coin. Archaeologists know coins were used in Denmark even earlier.

The tiny coin weighs just 1.95 grams. It was once broken into several pieces and later repaired. Danish butter businessman Lars Emil Bruun previously owned the coin. Bruun made his fortune exporting canned butter around the world. He died in 1923. His will stated his collection could not be sold for 100 years. More coins from his collection were sold on Tuesday. The Copenhagen auction continues on Wednesday, October 28.