Scotland (1609-25) thistle crown Fr-52

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Stack's Bowers 2021 ANA sale, lot 41528
photo courtesy Stack's Bowers LLC

This specimen was lot 41528 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Costa Mesa, CA, August 2021), where it sold for $9,000. The catalog description[1] noted,

"Historic James VI Thistle Crown, Provenance to 1936, The Spink Plate Coin, SCOTLAND. Thistle Crown, ND (1609-25). Edinburgh Mint; mm; thistle. James VI. NGC EF-45. Ninth Coinage, After Accession to the English Throne. An piece that offers outstanding execution and preservation. Sharply struck and well centered, with satiny luster glowing from the fields on both sides. Richly toned in yellow-gold and with only minimal friction across the high points. A thin mark in the right reverse field serves as a convenient pedigree marker for this RARE specimen.

The Thistle crown was struck in a small window during the ninth coinage from 1604 through 1609. As with most minor gold of this period, survivors are few and most are well worn. Burns goes on to note that "thistle crowns of the Scottish type are very rare," while those of the English type remain "very common." This piece has long been recognized as one of the most significant survivors, with a provenance back to the Cochran-Patrick Collection sold in 1936. More recently, it was included in the cabinet of Lucien LaRiviere and was selected as the plate coin in the 4th edition of the Spink reference (2020). From the Loch Ness Collection. Ex: Lucien LaRiviere Collection (Spink - 4/2006) Lot # 161. Ex: Beresford-Jones Collection (Spink - 4/1995) Lot # 506. Ex: H.M. Lingford Collection (Glendining - 6/1951) Lot # 861. Ex: R.W Cochran-Patrick Collection (Sotheby's - 4/1936) Lot # 82."

This series of gold coins, issued after James was made king of England, comprised a unit (Fr-48), double crown (Fr-49), Britain crown (Fr-50), half crown (Fr-51) and a thistle crown (Fr-52, shown here). Altho none are common, they appear more frequently than gold coins of the sixteenth century, suggesting that the restoration of peace brought gold out of hiding.

Recorded mintage: unknown.

Specification: 2.25 g, 0.917 fine gold, this specimen 2.04 g.

Catalog reference: KM 25, S-5471; Fr-52; Burns-2 (fig. 988).

Source:

  • Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
  • Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • [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.

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