Solidus Cross on Steps type

These solidi were not struck by an English authority at all — they are Continental Merovingian tremisses or their close derivatives, circulating in southeast England during the conversion period when no native Anglo-Saxon gold coinage had yet developed its own coherent type. The cross on steps motif originated in Byzantine imperial coinage and migrated westward through Frankish dies, arriving in Kent and East Anglia through trade and gift exchange across the Channel.

The ecclesiastical connections are difficult to ignore: the peak period of this type's circulation coincides almost exactly with Augustine's mission and the Kentish court's formal adoption of Christianity after 597.