Scotland 1676 merk

Stack's Bowers 2025 NYINC sale, lot 37448

This specimen was lot 37448 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2025), where it sold for $408. The catalog description^[1] noted, "SCOTLAND. 1/4 Dollar (Merk), 1676. Edinburgh Mint. Charles II. PCGS EF-45. 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 13 shillings and four pence, or a little more than an English shilling. The exchange rate between Scottish and English coinage varied but during this reign, 60 Scottish shillings = one English crown. This type was struck 1675-82 and is rare in Very Fine or better.

Recorded mintage: unknown.

Specification: 6.80 g, 0.917 fine silver, 25 mm diameter.

Catalog reference: S-5620; KM-110.1.

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, 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.

Link to:

• 1673 merk
• 1674 2 merk
• 1676 half merk
• 1676 4 merks
• 1677 turner
• 1677 quarter merk
• 1677 sixpence (bawbee)
• 1677 quarter merk
• 1677 half merk
• 1680 merk
• Coins and currency dated 1676