Hammered Charles 1st silver coin?

[levon2807]

Hello again chaps!

I was so impressed with your previous efforts on a coin brought in to our museum that I thought I'd ask about one of my own...

I think it's Charles the 1st but I haven't seen another with the Scottish shield on the back or the "II" mark on the front...any ideas?

[Peckris]

I'll let the experts on hammered answer this one for you, but I can solve one of your mysteries : the II behind the bust is where the denomination was put (XX for Unites, X for half Unites, XII for shillings, VI for sixpence, IIII for groat, etc). Yours is a twopence which is more correctly known as a "half groat".

[TomGoodheart]

It is indeed Charles I. The reason it has a Scottish shield is because it was produced for Scotland, which during Charles' reign (and in fact, up to the union in 1709) had its own issue of currency. Scotland was odd because its coinage was worth a twelveth of that of England and so this is actually a Two Shilling piece (worth (in England) as Peckris says, twopence). If you look closely you might see that not only dies it have the Scottish reverse but Charles is wearing the crown of Scotland. The difference being that the English crown has two lys on either side of a central cross. The Scottish crown is reversed with the lys at the centre and a cross on each side!

Scottish on the left and English on the right:

I believe this coin is numbered 5594 in Spink (who use a different numbering system for the coins of Scotland, Ireland and the Islands than that for England), since it has a smaller mark of value. The privy (mint) mark is unclear but I'd guess it is a triangle and the coin would have been issued in 1642 (Fourth coinage).

Hope that helps!

Edited October 27, 2011 by TomGoodheart

[levon2807]

Thanks so much for the replies guys! There's so little information on the internet about this coin.

I think I may have to flip it however...I have an obsession with British Empire coins that needs fed!