Scotland 1681 2 merks
This specimen was lot 33287 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2025), where it sold for $630. The catalog description[1] noted, "SCOTLAND. 1/2 Dollar (2 Merks), 1681. Edinburgh Mint. Charles II. PCGS VF-30. The final date in a brief three-year series, this fairly well circulated minor presents an amber-gray hue and a great wholesome nature. 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 merk appears to have traded for 26 shillings and 8 pence, or a little more than two English shillings. The exchange rate between Scottish and English coinage varied but during this reign, 60 Scottish shillings = one English crown. This type was struck 1675-76 and 1681 and is rare in Very Fine or better.
Recorded mintage: 1,961.
Specification: 13.40 g, 0.917 fine silver, 34 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: S-5619; KM-111.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- 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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