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  1. Winning Losing Won Lost Watching Available in aftersale  

    Standard Catalog plate coin

    A43, Lot 20:

    SCOTLAND. Standard Catalog plate coin. James VI. 1567-1625. AV "hat piece" (80 shillings or £4). 4.47 gm. 28 mm. Sixth Coinage. (Mullet i.m.). 1592. His bust right, wearing a tall hat, thistle behind; • IACOBVS • 6 • D • G • R • SCOTORVM • / A crowned lion standing, holding a scepter, a cloud above with יהוה ('Jehova') just above; • TE • SOLVM VEREOR • 1592 • ("Thee alone do I fear"). S. 5457 (this piece illustrated). Burns II: 394:1; pl lxix:952). Near Extremely Fine; very slight scratches on reverse, (fewer than on either of the two pieces sold for substantially more than this estimate in 2021). The "Act of Parliament 6th August 1591" authorized this issue.

    The Leland Scott Collection.

    Ex LaRiviere. Spink. 29 March 2006, lot 151 (just under the equivalent of US$20,000 all in). With his distinctive envelope. ("Very faint scratches in reverse field, a well struck example of this popular and distinctive portrait coin, good very fine, very rare")

    Ex Spink 81. November 1990. (61. "Pleasing good very fine and very rare")

    Ex Cochran-Patrick. Sothebys. 30 March 1936, lot 71.

    Two recent sales of this type in 2021, none since:

    •"AU50", minor edge split, minor hairlines" ($34,000) Photo shows extensive light hairlines in fields, a deeper scratch to the left of the lion on the reverse, some form of deposit in the "R" of SCOTORVM on the obverse

    •"AU55", photo shows bend in front of collar, a scratch extending from the mouth to the inner circle, a bend an a crease mark on the reverse, poor strike at the eye on the obverse. When Spink sold it in March 1997 they called it "a little creased." ($75,000)

  2. Winning Losing Won Lost Watching Available in aftersale  
    Lifetime issue – Extremely Rare
    A43, Lot 222:

    SCOTLAND. David I. 1124-1153. AR penny (lifetime issue). 1.2 gm. 22 mm. Burns Class 2. SSC, Period C: "later civil war years to 1153 and David's death" Crowned bust right, the top of the crown with three fleurs, a scepter to right also with a fleur on top [+DAV]IT RE[X] / Cross fleury, a single pellet in each angle (the pellets distinguish this piece from coins of Henry, Earl of Northumberland and Huntingdon). S. 5007 var. Cf. Burns, Plate I: 9ff . Cf also the images in Lindsay (1845 engraving, line drawing): Pl. 1:9ff. Plate 1:5ff in Wingate(1868). Extremely Fine; fresh surfaces, substantial portrait with crown details, parts of the lettering apparent; Substantial amount of portrait clear; top edge chip; extremely rare.

    The Leland Scott Collection. Ex Davisson (2014) (Acquired from an advanced American collector in 2013 with notation that it came from James Herbert Daniels, 1864-1936).

    Reflecting the Anarchy and the civil war in England, this piece is one of the early issues Burns describes, among other terms, as "blundered." The same is true of the line drawing images in two major 19th century references on Scottish coins, Lindsay and Wingate. Burns refers to these in his discussion of the beginning of Scottish coins assigning some of them to Roxburgh. Cochran-Patrick in Records of the Coinage of Scotland (1876) places this type just before David I. The Spink, Coins of Scotland… reference provides a four-date timeline for David I pennies that places this issue as late lifetime. The design is very similar to the issue for Prince Henry, Earl of Northumberland (1139-1152), S. 5012.

  3. Winning Losing Won Lost Watching Available in aftersale  

    First Renaissance style portrait

    A44, Lot 215:

    SCOTLAND. James III. 1460-1488. AR base silver groat, issue of 1471-1483 (.770). 1.97 gm. 22 mm. First Renaissance style portrait. Edinburgh mint. His realistic portrait, half right; tressure of eight arcs, trefoils on cusps; +IΛCOBVS : REX : DEI : SCOTORVM (the SCOTORV legend is listed in Burns as the eight arc variety) / Long cross with thistles opposing in two quarters and small mullets opposing in the other two (mullet in upper right quadrant variety; +VIL LAxE DINB VRGh. S. 5270. Burns II: p. 116:12/13; pl. xliv:582-3. Very Fine; attractive example with a clear portrait. Very rare, particularly in appealing condition.

    The Leland Scott Collection. With early hand-written tag

    Also ex Spink with older tag (£650).

     

    The first “real person” portrait on a British coin

    (As featured in Coin World Magazine, March 2025)

    In 1471 the young Scottish king, James III, had his youthful 30 year old image featured on the obverse of a base silver groat. This was the first Renaissance style portrait of a British king shown as he actually looked, and it took until the Fifth Coinage of Henry VII, very early in the 1500’s, for his realistic profile to appear on English coinage. British coins had long featured a front-facing two-dimensional image that made no effort at visually discriminating the kings. This change to an actual image was an important mark of England’s entry into the Renaissance.

    The Renaissance (French “rebirth”) replaced the medieval world view, and was a time of rediscovering the classical learning of the ancient world. The exact time when it began is a source of scholarly debate but in the 14th century literature like the Canterbury Tales, the Decameron, and Dante’s Inferno were reflecting this humanism, and drawing and painting eventually followed.

    The reverse of this James III groat began the use of thistle heads on Scottish coinage. James III is generally considered the founder of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, a Scottish Order of Chivalry that is still functioning. In modern times, the current king, Charles III, is reported to have awarded it five times so far in his reign.

  4. Winning Losing Won Lost Watching Available in aftersale  
    Extremely rare young Mary
    E34, Lot 90:

    SCOTLAND. Mary Stuart. 1542-1567. AR testoon. 4.33 gm. 30 mm. First period, 1542-1558. Before marriage. 1553. Her young (11 year old) crowned bust right; ★ MARIA • DEI • GRATIA • SCOTORVM around (small O) / Crowned shield, cinquefoil to either side; DA PACEM DOMINE 1553. S. 5401. Burns II, p 270: 1. Pl. LVII, fig. 780. St. 166. Murray (1968 BNJ) Obv C. Rev. 4 (probably). Worn, minor bends, recognizable features, name and date clear and better than many of this extremely rare issue. Extremely rare.

    Murray noted "18 known." Patrick Finn thought 21. In any event, it is an extremely rare and historic type and the majority are in seriously worn condition including one of the three in the National Museum in Edinburgh. The other two Edinburgh pieces would be "good Fine" at best. Until Spink in 1981 reported "a previously unrecorded specimen" the Murdoch—Lockett example was the "finest known." Collector Geoffrey Cope owned the Spink piece and it was featured on his petitioncrown website (no longer operating). The Dundee piece (1976) was little better than the piece offered here; the Cochran-Patrick (1936) example was  better but much of the facial detail was missing; Parsons (1954) was a bit worse than this piece. The Spink Standard Catalog shows the LaRiviere piece, probably the third best known. Several serious Scottish collections lacked the piece entirely.

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