Scotland 1669 merk

Stack's Bowers 2021 ANA sale, lot 46024

photo courtesy Stack's Bowers LLC

This specimen was lot 46024 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Costa Mesa, CA, August 2021), where it sold for $240. The catalog description^[1] noted, "SCOTLAND. Merk, 1669. Edinburgh Mint; mm. thistle. Charles II. NGC VF-30. First Coinage, Type II. Very attractive with bold definition and colorful tone in the protected areas. Nicely centered and glossy, with only a few ancient marks noted in the obverse fields. From the Loch Ness 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 13 shillings and four pence, or a little more than an English shilling (note the "XIII 4" in the center of the reverse). The exchange rate between Scottish and English coinage varied but during this reign, 60 shillings = one English crown. This type was struck 1664-74 and is rare in Very Fine or better.

Recorded mintage: unknown.

Specification: 6.79 g, 0.916 fine silver, 25 mm diameter; this specimen 6.17 g.

Catalog reference: S-5611; KM-102.1.

Source:

• 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, The August 2021 ANA sale: World and Ancient Coins, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2021.

Link to:

• 1664 4 merks
• 1670 half merk
• 1672 half merk
• 1673 merk
• Coins and currency dated 1669