Here's probably the oldest coin in my inherited box of coins. Does anyone have any info on this including approx value? Thanks.
Assuming this is a crown. Correct? https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide...own-km-4223-1667-1671-cuid-103634-duid-270130
As the OP presumably knows this is actually about shilling sized - about one inch across. I have a coincraft book on Scottish coins which lists this one at £70 in VG condition. I would say the obverse is less than VG but the reverse probably better, so £70 is probably right. Whether you would actually get that if you sold it depends on the view potential collectors take! I can't see a 1669 Merk sold recently on E**y but a couple of half merks - one made nearly GBP 90, and the other only GBP 8.50. I hope thst helps.
The SCBC for Scotland, released by Spink last year, shows a value of £85 in fine condition, and yours is probably less than fine as Paddy mentioned. A Merk is equivalent to the English Mark, which is 13s. 4d., or 2/3 a pound. I find the interesting thing about these coins is the value is given in the center of the reverse (as XIII/4). Spink notes there are two varieties to this coin, one with an error missing the stops/periods on the obverse, and the other variety with the Scottish arms in both the 2nd and 4th quarters of the reverse. This one is neither. It's a very cool coin though, Chaz!
FitzNigel is right that the Merk was derived from the English Mark at 13s 4d however by 1669 inflation in Scotland had galloped away so the buying power of the Scottish Merk was the same as the English Shilling - hence the coins being the same size. The weakness of the Scottish economy was one of the reasons they accepted Union with England in 1704 - something the Scots Nationalists shoul remember when seeking to break away in modern times. My Coincraft book was published in 1999 so I am not surprised the price has increased.
