An Introduction to Reading Hammered Coins…
This page is an important step forward to the identification of coins from various monarchs, although some illustrations of coins are my own, a lot here is accredited to others, and I’m not shy of giving credit where credit is due, as with everything on this page and elsewhere on uk-detectorist always click the highlighted areas, you won’t be disappointed, if i find it easy, then it is…
Anglo Saxon-Early Medieval
This is such a vast subject, that there will be highlighted links posted throughout to take you to experts & sites that are dedicated to one particular coin or a series of coins, offering a much easier solution to the problem of identification
To start with, the everyday run-of-the-mill coins we find as metal detectorists are too far gone for us to identify, let alone be able to have a positive ID, but when we find a coin that has something left, we all should try to find an ID… most people, instead of trying themselves to find the age of a coin will turn to the social media sites, i think personally this is sad, as they are missing out on a large part of metal detecting…
I personally, do not have a lot of coins from this era, and as such i have very little experience with Anglo Saxon coins, but when i found this Saxon of Aetheralred 11 i knew that it was a Saxon & was able to get a positive id from the spinks book…
Over the course of time, the more detectorists that are out there, the more coins come to light, whether it is a hoard or a single coin, the amount of gold, silver brass, or bronze just lying out there is huge…
One of the easiest-to-read examples of reading a coin description has to go to Carl Savage, once you follow this you will be amazed that the simplicity was not shown before, below is an example from his paper on Post Medieval Coins & Identification…
Any coin whether it has been dug up or bought might have a partial reading of a letter or letters with which to ID the coin…
One of the easy-to-use sites is by Paul Shields who has done a lot towards the reading of coins, and general ID of coins, with his coin inscription page
As with the inscriptions Paul Sheilds deals with the problematic Mint Marks found on coins, although the Spinks and older Seaby coin books help with an illustrated index to every Monarch, Paul shows you where to look for the mintmark…
As with all coins, of any age, the condition is always important, with the value affected by the condition of the coin…
But be aware, there are many coins out there ready to trip up the unwary, with forgeries being made since the first coin was produced
Short Cross Coins, are one of the most difficult coins to read, due to the fact, that subsequent monarchs kept the same coins, but there is still hope for a positive ID…. most people will know a Saxon short cross coin from one that was issued later, either by William, Henry or Stephen or any issues of the early Norman coins, in 1154 Henry II, (- Henry Plantagenet -) became King & Henry 11 used the same coins of Stevan and the coins of the rebellion, by 1158 Henry 11 ‘s official coinage is issued, with the same terrible results as the coins of the previous monarchs, these are the silver pennies which are called Cross and Crosslets or Tealby,s (- a big hoard of them was found there in 1807 -) don’t forget these Telbys are not in poor condition due to the fact of time, but this is how they were struck, more than often illegible, carelessly and hurriedly struck on poor flans, in 1180 the situation is so unsatisfactory for such a great King that Philip Aimer of Tours is commissioned and he designs a new Short Cross coinage. Philip makes his mark at the mint but he’s soon drummed out on suspicion of fraud; as is customary. And 1180 marks the start of a Short Cross silver Penny that proves so popular with the people that it is continued, pretty much unchanged, for close to 70 years.
All Short Cross pennies are marked hENRICVS – Henricus – Henry in Latin. This can be a bit confusing later on in the reigns of Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland but, for the people, Henricus was the proper, authoritative name of the King of England. In any case, Henry II’s son Richard didn’t have the time to change mere coinage and his other son, John, needed the cloak of his father’s name, John’s son is also a Henry – Henry III, with the short cross coinage continuing into the reign of Henry III right down until 1247 when the short cross coins were so worn and degraded and clipped that a new coinage was needed…
So if we look at the hammered coins in chronicled order we have the silver coinage of the;
anglo saxons, then the short cross coinage…
Norman coins 1066-1158
Cross-crosslets coinage 1158-1180
The short cross coinage 1180-1247
The voided long cross coinage 1247-79
The long cross coinage of various monarchs starting with Edward 1 in 1179 until the advent of milled coinage…
The short cross penny was one of the most successful English coin designs in history. The coinage ran for an incredible sixty-seven years without change, the incredible nature of this achievement is most appreciated when the coins are considered in their historical context.
Even as far back as the tenth century, it had been common practice to rotate coinage designs on a regular basis, somewhat like modern British banknotes. In essence, what happened was as thus; A coinage design would be introduced and would circulate for a number of years usually between five years and ten years, depending upon circumstance. After a certain period of time, a new design would be introduced and the old coins would be called in and melted down. Although no coin book actually states it as such, it can be inferred that the redeemed coins were possibly demonetized at some date after a period of grace. The reason for this conclusion is as follows. Firstly the point of regularly rotating the currency was to keep the workmanship and the silver fineness up to a high standard. The only way to effectively maintain such control over the coinage would be to regulate it strictly, hence why moneyers found to be producing underweight coinage or coinage of substandard workmanship would be castrated and have their right hand removed.
Whilst this system worked well up until the late eleventh century, by the early twelfth century the system was being abused. The coinage of Henry I produced from 1100 to 1135 became increasingly crude and of inferior workmanship. Poor and weak off-center strikes abounded, moneyors were producing underweight coinage and making a profit at the king’s expense from the silver they had kept back, they then ensured that the mint name was indecipherable so that the monarch could not track where the coin had come from. Henry however had a trick up his sleeve and decided to make an example of the moneyors he knew had produced substandard pieces. The moneyers were called to Winchester Cathedral at Christmas 1124. The brighter and more intuitive moneyers that had taken advantage of their position realised the game was decidedly now against them and they fled abroad. The majority however turned up as requested where they were shocked to find that the king turned on them and made them account for their actions. Debasing the coinage was serious business as the whole reputation of England’s financial status could be undermined as could trade. The king had several moneyers mutilated and castrated as a punishment hoping that this would send the message home to those that had been let off.
A typical example of the state of English coinage in the early twelfth century prior to the 1180 recoinage
King Stephen (1135-1154) silver penny, Shaftesbury mint issued about 1136. This believe it or not is an average strike!
Whilst Henry’s policy worked in the short term, as the coinage greatly improved, it didn’t’t stay improved for long and soon went back down the old road. However by 1135 Henry I had died and was not in a position to do much about it. The following decades saw a succession crisis and thus a civil war between King Stephen (a rather charming usurper by all contemporary accounts) and the real heir, his cousin the Empress Matilda (who was rather arrogant and unpopular by all other accounts). Either way the period from 1135-1154 saw a country where the power base moved from one party to another and the moneyors were pretty much free to take advantage as they saw fit. The coinage whilst remaining of good silver did deteriorate further due to poorer working conditions, there was a lack of decent dies as the Royal revenue responsible for such matters were more interested in other things. Thus substandard equipment plagued the moneyors who were also afraid to back either side entirely in case the situation changed. Thus coins with blundered obverse legends and indecipherable mints are common for coins of this period.
By 1154 Stephen had died and Matilda’s son Henry II had gained control of England, Stephen’s coinage continued to be produced until 1158, with all of the problems it had developed since 1135.
An extreme example of the state of the coinage by the 1140s, here is a King Stephen coin struck
from defaced dies (the moneyor was not committing himself to either side and was certainly not owning
up to the work either! As both obverse and reverse legends are no more than a few random letters)
Henry II hoped in 1158 to remedy the situation by introducing the Cross and Crosslets penny (more commonly known as the Tealby penny, due to a large hoard found there). The name Cross and Crosslets comes from the reverse design of a central cross with smaller crosses in the four angles. The silver standard of this issue was generally very good but the workmanship was truly dreadful. Bad strikes continued and the coins were not particularly aesthetically pleasing, thus in 1180 Henry decided to try a new tactic.
The coinage from the tenth century right up to 1180 had continued to have regular design changes but the whole point of this design rotation was to keep the coinage to a high standard. The problem was this whole approach was simply not working anymore, no matter how many moneyors were being mutilated someone would still find the allure of clipping a coin more enticing than the fear of the consequences. It was believed that the constant design changes were more of a hindrance than a help, because every few years the people would have to familiarize themselves with a new design, thus it was going to take a while for people to notice what to look out for when accepting the new coins. Such things as knowing whether a coin was underweight or clipped etc. The recent struggles between Stephen and Matilda had also emphasized the need for not change but continuity and stability.
Thus in 1180 it was decided to introduce a new coin design of better workmanship, of more uniform size and even shape (Tealby pennies sometimes came out square!), and more importantly of a design that could stay in circulation indefinitely.
Enter the Short Cross penny, Henry II Class 1 minted by Golcelm
of Winchester in about 1180. (Sorry about the smaller reverse picture!)
The short cross penny was born in 1180 and would run through four reigns with very little alteration, indeed such little alteration that the obverse legend would always read HENRICVS REX (King Henry) regardless of whether the king was called Henry, Richard, or John. The style of the short cross pennies are all so similar that the entire life span of the series from 1180 to 1247 saw them assigned to classes based upon minor differences in design. Thus, they are numbered from Class 1 to Class 8.
Class 1 are Henry II coins issued from 1180 to the death of the king in 1189
Classes 2-4 are issues of Richard I issued from 1189-1199
Classes 4-6 are issues of John issued from 1199-1216
Classes 6-8 are issues of Henry III issued from 1216-1247
The design was of a forward-facing king on the obverse, the reverse depicted a short cross, hence the name of the coins.
The coins held up well in circulation although, like most coin designs over time, they were prone to becoming of increasingly sloppy workmanship as the years went on.
Class 3 during Richard I’s reign saw the first slip into degradation, which reached a zenith during Class 4. By the end of Class 4 in the early years of John’s reign, it was considered unacceptable to have such crude workmanship and thus Class 5 was issued in the hope of undoing the damage. Class 5 coins are certainly of better workmanship than Classes 3 or 4 but even so the new issue was still inferior to Class 1. But even by the end of Class 5 and early into Class 6 the quality was beginning to slip once more and the trend continued until the end of the coinage with the poor Class 8 issues.
Class 6 King John Short Cross penny was issued around 1210 by Rauf of London.
The increasingly sloppy workmanship was not, however, the final nail in the coffin for the Short Cross Penny. The coins had proved themselves a better alternative to their predecessors but the old enemy of hammered coins, clipping proved to be their ultimate downfall.
By the 1240s clipping had become so prevalent that something had to be done to curb it, thus it was decided that a design should be introduced that would show up clipped coins even sooner or hopefully make it near impossible to pass off a clipped coin. Thus in 1247 the solution to the perplexing problem was put forth and coined. It was decided that by extending the cross to the edges of the coin it would help to prevent people from clipping them as they would be easier to detect. The new Long Cross penny entered circulation in 1247 and the Short Cross penny’s long reign was over.
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The art of reading any coin comes with experience, but then again it always helps if you have a guiding hand…
Although the following exert shown below is from Rod Blunt’s excellent Voided Long Cross Pennies, i have inserted more links to take you to coins, articles, and sites where it should make finding an identification of a voided long cross coin very easy….
With the single exception of an extremely rare gold coin, the long cross coinage of 1247-1279 consists entirely of silver pennies. They were struck in 0.925 fine silver with a standard weight of about 22 grains (1.43g) and a diameter of about 18mm. The obverse depicts a crowned facing bust of the king, and the reverse has a long voided cross with three pellets in each angle. Both sides are inscribed: the obverse with the king’s name and title, and the reverse, in most cases, with the name of the mint and moneyer. During the thirty-two years of their issue, certain changes were made to the design, the form of the legends and the style of the letters. By studying these changes, along with documentary records and information obtained from hoards, the sequence and dates of issue of the coins can be determined and when their classification was undertaken.
The classification we use today was established almost one hundred years ago by Laurie Asher Lawrence… A surgeon by trade, who later became an author… (1857 – 1949) – He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Numismatic Society… It is documented in a paper published in three parts in the British Numismatic Journal between 1912 and 1915. This classification has stood the test of time remarkably well, with only relatively minor refinements by later numismatists. Subsequent finds have added a few coins to Lawrence’s lists of known classes and sub-classes for certain mints, but many of these – like the extremely rare class 6 penny of London – were anticipated by him.
One of the challenges of producing a guide to the classification is that of catering for the different needs of the casual user and the more experienced numismatist. On the one hand, the risk is of including an excessive amount of detail, while on the other, it is of omitting information that the specialist will find useful. To address this issue, I have adopted a two-tier approach to the structure of the article. The Internet greatly facilitates this approach by making it possible to separate out various aspects of the coinage, while at the same time making that information instantly accessible via hyperlinks. Those wishing to determine only the main class of a coin, for example, are able to do so without being faced with detailed descriptions of the many sub-classes. Having established the main class, however, the structure of the article will allow those who wish to do so to pursue the more detailed information at a separate level.
A difficulty often experienced by newcomers is that of reading the inscriptions on the coins. This is partly because some of the letterforms used during the medieval period are unfamiliar, but also because adjacent letters are frequently joined together (“ligate”), such that they can appear to be a single unrecognisable character. To add to the difficulty, the manual minting process often results in parts the inscription being weakly impressed, or even partially off the flan. The best way to become familiar with the various letterforms is to visit the mints and moneyers section and study the inscriptions on the coins illustrated, all of which are transcribed. To assist with the process, ligate letters are underlined, and the cross ends that divide the reverse legends are indicated by the “/” sign. Basic errors, such as mistaking a horizontally barred N for a Roman H, can be avoided once it is known that only the Lombardic “h” is found on the coins. It should also be borne in mind that the letters I/J and U/V respectively did not exist separately at the time, so a single letter in each case (usually in the style of I and V) served both as vowel and consonant, much as the letter Y still does today.
It is appropriate at this point, for the benefit of newcomers, to define some of the numismatic terms used in the article. In the context of the long cross coinage, the obverse of a coin is the side that bears the facing bust of the king. The reverse is the side that carries the long voided cross. A mule is a coin struck with the obverse die of one class or sub-class, and the reverse die of a different class or sub-class. Mules are very useful for determining the order in which the coins were struck.
To start with a lot of people ask me where the PDFs are from, these are all from the same author who has written several synopses of coins which make for easy reading and translation of the coins themselves, for example, if a hammered coin has stars in the quarters on the reverse of the coin it’s most likely going to be a Scottish coin, most of these PDFs are available on the internet already, but i will put them up here with the authors (-Carl Savage-) blessing, the first one is…
A look at the brief history of Medieval Scottish coinage
First native Scottish coinage (1136-1174)
In 1136 David I took control of the city of Carlisle and the surrounding silver mines and thus began to mint the first Scottish coins. These coins at first copied the existing English types, such as this example found in Yorkshire (SWYOR-A6B618) and a recently discovered type that combines an obverse similar to Henry I but a reverse similar to King Stephen’s type 1 found in Nottinghamshire (DENO-1AE34C). This is only the second coin of its type and it has been published by a writer in the British Numismatic Journal (Savage and Allen, 2019).
During the 1140s David standardized the Scottish coinage into one design which featured a cross fleury with a pellet (sometimes attached to stalks) or other ornaments in each quarter. This example from Cumbria has annulets in each quarter attached to a stalk (LANCUM-C9254D). Along with David, his son and heir to the Scottish throne, Henry Earl of Northumberland, also issued coins from the Carlisle mint which were of a similar design to David’s issues like this example from Cumbria (LANCUM-C7BD67).
Henry died in 1152, followed by David in 1153 who was succeeded by his young grandson Malcolm IV. Blundered coins in David’s name were issued under Malcolm as this sterling from Cumbria shows (LANCUM-CBC0E4) alongside Malcolm’s own coins, which are extremely rare and to date, the only single finds are from Scotland (the total single finds of Malcolm from Scotland to date is four). Malcolm died in 1165 and was succeeded by his younger brother William (known as the Lion). There are currently no examples of William’s first coinage (1165-74) recorded on the PAS but there are several single finds of this coinage from Scotland.
Coinages of William I and Alexander II (1174-1249)
William’s second issue is known as the crescent coinage due to its reverse design of a crescent with a pellet within each quarter. This coinage lasted until c.1195 when it was replaced with the Short Cross and Stars coinage. There are currently no examples of the crescent coinage on the PAS database and it is worth noting that coins of this issue were heavier than the corresponding English Cross-crosslet and Short Cross coinages, which may partially explain their limited circulation in England.
In c.1195 the new Short Cross and Stars coinage was introduced of which there are plenty of examples on the database. These coins circulated freely in England as they were of the same weight and fineness as the English coinage. The majority of these coins were issued in the name of William with the legends either WILELMVS REX or LE REI WILLAME, though it is important to note there are variations in the reading of the legends with some coins naming the mint and moneyer while the majority just have the moneyer’s name only – such as this penny in the name of William from Cumbria (LANCUM-08C96D) which exhibits the third bust style and only lists the two moneyers HVE and WALTER. The coins listing the names HVE and WALTER are the most common of coins in the name of William on the database. Another specimen that has the mint name and moneyer comes from North Yorkshire (DUR-0DBE0A). Raul was the moneyer at Roxburgh during the reign of William who was active from the crescent coinage.
There are some examples of coins of Alexander II on the PAS database – this one from near Bedford (BUC-DB93B1) has a bust similar to those exhibited on those coins in Alexander’s own name but is in the name of William. The moneyer’s Aimer and Adam were some of the moneyers active at Roxburgh during the reign of Alexander. It was during the course of the late twelfth and thirteenth century that Roxburgh became the principal mint in Scotland before the dominance of Berwick under Alexander III. A good example of a cut halfpenny in the name of Alexander comes from Cumbria (LANCUM-9E45FD) minted by Andrev or Andrev and Alain at Roxburgh.
The coinages of Alexander III to Robert I (1249-1329)
Alexander II died in 1249 and was succeeded by his young son Alexander III (r.1249-86). The Short Cross and Stars coinage was replaced in 1250 by a new coinage; the voided long cross and stars. This new coinage was introduced in Scotland in response to the introduction of the new English voided long cross coinage in 1247. The voided long cross and stars coinage was produced until 1280 and it was during this period that the most mints were in operation in Scotland with at least sixteen identified mints. Other coins with the mint signatures DVN or FRES are as of yet not identified with a 100% confidence. Current thinking is that these could represent a mint at either Dumfries, Dunfermline, or Forres, though a die-linked coin from Roxburgh strengthens the argument for Dumfries, which was the last crossing point of the River Nith before it drains into the Solway Firth. A good example of the voided long cross coinage of Alexander is from Wiltshire (BERK-521056) and there are several other examples on the database.
In 1279 Edward I reformed the English coinage and again like before Alexander and Scotland followed suit and introduced in 1280 the single long cross coinage. Also introduced was the round halfpenny and farthing as, like in England, Scotland produced no small change before this date and the only coin produced, the penny, was either cut into halves or quarters. Another innovation with the new coinage in Scotland was that the moneyer and the mint name are no longer listed on the reverse; instead, the legend REX SCOTORVM was now the new reverse legend. The current theory is that the number of points on the mullets in each quarter of the reverse identifies the mint, though sometimes there is also a combination of mullets and stars. There are a plentiful number of these single cross coins of Alexander III on the database such as this example from Norfolk (WAW-CD61F7) and this one from the Isle of Wight (IOW-057B66).
Alexander III died unexpectedly in 1286. The death of his only living grandchild Margarete the maid of Norway in 1290 led to a major crisis in Scotland and the great cause which, through Edward I’s ‘adjudication’, led to John Baliol being selected as King of Scotland. John’s coins followed the same design as Alexander III except for stylistic differences and a new legend and on the St. Andrews coins of John the mint signature is again shown on the reverse, while all the others have the legend REX SCOTORVM. There are several examples of John’s coins recorded on the database such as a penny of the rough issue found near Lancaster (LVPL-788091) and the second ‘smooth’ issue from the Isle of Wight (IOW-F788CB). There are also some examples of halfpennies such as this one from Lincolnshire (LIN-BCFAB7).
John was deposed following the Scottish defeat at Dunbar in 1296 and following a period of English rule and warfare Robert Bruce seized the throne in 1306 and gradually begun to free Scotland from English rule. By the early 1320s Robert I had removed the English from Scotland and had enough political control and stability to produce coinage again in Scotland. Berwick was the principal mint in Scotland from the reign of Alexander III and following its capture from the English in 1318 allowed Robert to start producing coins. Again the mint signature is not named on these coins and current thinking is that the coins of Robert I were mainly issued from Berwick. Again there are some examples from the database such as this type 1 issue from Wiltshire (SOM-347647), and also a piedfort of a halfpenny found near Pontefract (SWYOR-B9E658) and this type 1 halfpenny from Cumbria (LANCUM-B09BB2).
The coinage of David II to Robert III (1329-1406)
Robert I died in 1329 and was succeeded by his son David II. In 1333 hostilities with England were resumed following Edward III’s invasion of Scotland, David’s first coinage consisted only of halfpence and farthings, similar to England, which at this time was also producing halfpence and farthings. A good example from the database is PUBLIC-406806 – the coins of this first coinage are distinguished with mullets of five points. The next coinage of David was introduced in c.1351 and a new classification and die study of this coinage is currently being written for publication by the writer. This coinage consisted of pennies with a small number of halfpennies (only two specimens, both in the NMS collections) and farthings (only one specimen exists and is in the collection of the NMS). The reverse consists of four mullets with six points with the reverse legend REX SCOT(T)ORVM. An example from the database which was used in the writer’s die study (Savage group E) is this example from Devon (DEV-C7519B). These REX SCOT(T)ORVM coins were the subject of a proclamation by Edward III in 1356 that banned their circulation in England due to their deficient weight compared to the corresponding English issued at the time (the English pence was 18 grains). These coins are not particularly common in both England and Scotland as finds and how effective the English efforts were to ban these coins remains to be seen. Following the loss of Berwick to the English in 1333 it is thought that these coins were minted in Edinburgh, which took up the mantle of being Scotland’s principal mint and would remain so until the act of union in 1707.
The main coinage of David following his release from captivity in England in 1357 was introduced in 1358. The groat and its half were introduced into Scotland in this new coinage, along with a short-lived gold noble coinage. The mint name was again shown on the reverse rather than the REX SCOTORVM legend. An example of a penny of this new coinage is this type A penny from Somerset (SOM-1A2445) and a groat type A6 from Lancashire (LANCUM-4E691D), as well as this type C1 halfgroat from Cumbria (LANCUM-9DD292).
In 1367 economic pressures in Scotland forced a weight reduction in the Scottish coinage. This meant that the Scottish coinage was now lighter than the corresponding English coinage and further weight reductions followed in c.1390 and again in 1403. During the reign of Richard II, the Scottish groat in England was reduced to a value of threepence and then to two. The new coinage is distinguished by a star on the scepter handle (or behind the bust) such as this type II example from Suffolk (SF-DB95CE) and this type IIa groat from Cumbria (LANCUM-31B544).
David II died in 1371 and was succeeded by his nephew Robert II. The coinage of Robert II differed little (except for some stylistic and legend differences) from the light coinage of David II and had a star on the sceptre handle or a letter B behind the head which is thought to be the initial of Bonagius, the principle moneyer in Scotland during the later reign of David II, Robert II and Robert III. Examples of Robert II coins on the database include these pennies from Buckinghamshire (BUC-7E05CE) and Cumbria (LANCUM-BE3E21), and this halfpenny from London (LON-DEBF38).
Robert II was succeeded by his son Robert III in 1390 and during his reign, several new innovations to the coinage were introduced. First, the coins adopted the English style of the facing bust, and the mullets in the quarters on the reverse were replaced with three pellets. A good example showing these new changes is this groat found near Durham (DUR-8EFE44) and this halfgroat from Kent (KENT-2B9A81). Following an act of parliament in 1393 the smaller denominations, the pence and the halfpence, were to be produced with an increase in alloy and less silver. This new material is known as billon and throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth century, the billon denominations contained more and more copper. A good example of a billon Robert III halfpenny is this one from North Lincolnshire (NLM-3E353D). There was a further weight reduction in the Scottish coinage in 1403 but these light coins of Robert are extremely rare as finds and there are currently no examples on the PAS database.
James I and later medieval and early post-medieval Scottish coinage to 1603
It was during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that the Scottish coinage became ‘divorced’ from the English currency and underwent its own reforms and partial recoinages. New denominations such as the plack were introduced during the reign of James III. Only one example of a coin of James I (1406-37) is recorded on the database (SWYOR-7209D2), though unfortunately, the actual findspot is unknown. There are slightly more examples of his son James II on the database such as this groat of James’s first coinage known as the fleur de lis issue (which was introduced in 1424 under James I and continued until 1451) found in East Sussex (SUR-AA1CC4). James’s second crown coinage was introduced in 1451 in an attempt to bring the Scottish coinage more in line with the English, though this attempt failed as the coins that were produced often fell well short of the specified weight standards. These examples include this groat from Leicestershire (WMID-9E0EE8) and this billon penny from Essex (KENT-E0FCE6).
James II was killed in 1460 during the siege of Roxburgh castle and was succeeded by his young son James III. The Scottish coinage underwent several weight changes from weight reductions in 1467 and weight increases in 1484. An example of the light issue of 1475 is this halfgroat from Lincolnshire (LIN-B351CE) minted at Berwick, which was returned to Scotland in 1461 as part of a deal with Henry VI of England in return for Scottish support for his war against the House of York. Alongside the billon pennies, there is also a small issue of silver pence (worth 3d Scots) and one example from Wiltshire (WILT-F7F287).
The majority of the coins of James III are the Crux Pelit copper threepenny penny issues of James, long thought to be ecclesiastical issues produced at Crossraguel Abbey or issues produced by Bishop Kennedy of St Andrews. It is more likely they were produced under licence from James by his favourite the Earl of Mar and as such they were known as Cochrane’s placks, though who exactly produced them and at what date is still a matter of debate. These coins were produced solely of copper and were deeply unpopular. As such they were discontinued probably before the coin reforms of 1484. Examples on the database include this one found in London (LON-DE3819) and this one found in North Yorkshire (SWYOR-90BD33).
James III was killed in 1488 at the battle of Sauchieburn near Stirling by rebel barons and was succeeded by his son James IV. The early coinages of James followed the weight standards of the heavy coinage of his father until c.1496 when the weight was reduced. Only one example of a groat of James IV, a type IIb of the heavy coinage, is recorded on the database from West Cheshire (LVPL-3D3640) and only one billon penny (type IVb), which by the reign of James IV had almost become pure copper has been recorded, from the east riding of Yorkshire (LVPL-AD702C).
James IV was killed at the battle of Flodden in 1513 and was succeeded by his son James V. The early coinage of James V followed that of the billon and gold issues of James IV and silver coins were again produced from 1526 with a lifelike bust of the king similar to those on the corresponding English coins of the period, though the first time a lifelike bust of the king appeared on Scottish coins was the heavy coinage (type VI) groats of James III introduced in 1484. There are some examples of the second coinage (1526-38) of James V such as this cut groat from northern Lancashire (LANCUM-1A3A72) and these smaller ⅓ groats from Kent (SUSS-C3271E) and Cumbria (LANCUM-E40AC5). No silver was produced during James’ final third coinage (1538-42) and instead a new billon denomination worth 6d known as the bawbee was introduced. Only one example has been recorded on the database, a type Ja or Jb from west Sussex (SUSS-9D43A4).
James died in 1542 and was succeeded by his infant daughter Mary, more popularly known as Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary’s early coinage followed that of the last coinage of James V and there are two examples of billon bawbees; one from Lincolnshire (LIN-D89533) and one from Sussex (SF-0746D7). There are two examples of a new billon denomination called the lion (or hardhead) which was introduced in 1555 and the two examples on the database belong to the period of 1558-60 when Mary was married to Francis II of France. One was found in London (LON-262322) and the other from the east riding of Yorkshire (DUR-49D6A4).
There are a plentiful number of coins, mostly the eight coinage of James VI recorded on the database such as this half thistle merk from the Isle of Wight (IOW-48DDA6) and this ⅛ thistle merk from north Yorkshire (DUR-8E4BD4). The Scottish coinage of James VI before 1603 was made up of eight coinages of different denominations and valuations which were replaced with re-coinages every few years due to the poor economic situation in Scotland during this time. It is thought that the majority of the thistle merks of the eight coinage entered England after 1603 when James succeeded Elizabeth I on the English throne. After 1603 Scotland still produced its own native coinage until the act of union in 1707.
Discussion
This blog provides a very basic and brief history of the development of the Scottish coinage from 1136 to 1603 using coins recorded on the PAS database. It is hoped in the near future that the present writer will produce a new book and the history and development of the Scottish coinage as well as a new, easy-to-use, detailed classification encompassing all the research on the Scottish coinage since 1967. For now, the best book to use is the Spink book Coins of Scotland, Ireland and the Islands including Anglo-Gallic coins (2015). Further blogs will look at some of the English coins recorded on the database and also a more detailed look and interpretation of the distribution of the Scottish coins in England, which is a small part of the writer’s ongoing PhD.
Carl Savage Bsc MA FSA Scot PCIfA
British copper Tokens 19th Century
Scottish Groats…
This poster was lifted from Facebook. Although incomplete, it does show the majority of coins to be found out there.
A collage of the “groat” coinage of Scotland, from David II to Mary. Missing a few types, but the main themes are represented.
Scottish groats are fairly challenging, while there are no great rarities in the series, perhaps besides the bearded type of James IV, the kings are all fairly scarce… Artie Gran
udigidig.com 
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