Scotland 1591 1/2 merk
This specimen was lot 37396 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2025), where it sold for $660. The catalog description[1] noted, "SCOTLAND. "Balance" 1/2 Merk, 1591. Edinburgh Mint. James VI. PCGS EF-40. From the Richard August Collection." A merk was originally forty shillings Scots in the sixteenth century. Both the merk and the Scots shilling shrank in the intervening years and this half merk appears to have traded for six shillings and eight pence. This type was struck 1591-93 along with a quarter merk. The reverse motto, "· HIS · DIFFERT · REGE · TYRANNVS ·", means, "In these a tyrant differs from a king," referring to the scales of justice.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 4.62 g, 0.875 fine silver, 28 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: S-5491.
- Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of the Coins of Scotland, Ireland, Channel Islands & Isle of Man, London: Coincraft, 1999.
- Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of Scotland, Ireland and the Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, Man & Lundy), Pre-Decimal Issues, 2nd edition, London: Spink & Son, 2003.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, January 2025 NYINC Showcase Auction, featuring the Richard Margolis Collection, Part III, and the Richard August Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2024.
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