A Collection of Scottish Coins, the Property of a Gentleman (Part I)

Charles II (1649-1685), Merk, 1670, type II, thistle below bust, colon after dei and date, 6.51g/3h (D 21; Murray 17; SCBI 35, 1581; B 7, fig. –; S 5611). Struck from a cracked and worn obverse die, very fine, reverse better £240-£300

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Scottish Coins, the Property of a Gentleman.

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bt March 2013

The state of the obverse die on this coin prompts the following comment from the vendor: ‘The frequency with which coins produced from cracked and damaged dies turn up in this series suggests that they were not well suited to the machinery in use, which dated from Charles I’s Third coinage’.