A coin found near Utstein Monastery in April 2025 and left for months among buttons and scrap was identified by Stavanger researchers as a rare Magnus Barefoot silver piece.
X-ray tomography showed why it looked unlike a coin: one side had been covered with a copper plate and the rim folded over, indicating it was later adapted for use as jewelry.
The scan also revealed a griffin on the hidden side and a “cross over cross” motif on the visible side—a combination known from only four double-sided specimens.
About 100 coins from Magnus Barefoot’s 1093-1103 reign are known across 12 finds, and this is the first example of its type discovered in Norway.
At roughly 90% silver, the piece also reflects Magnus’s restoration of higher coin standards at the end of the Viking Age, though researchers cannot tell when it was lost.