Here is something really nice for everyone on this forum to feast their eyes on........ http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/markluchesasmith/UntitledAlbum/photo#5166539540709013154
This is a crown....yes, as Jerome has pointed out, the sheilds are the wrong way up. I will post it on the "What is it worth" forum.
Charles II crown 1677..variety-sheilds rotated. http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/markluchesasmith/UntitledAlbum/photo#5166539540709013154 The obverse is a GF as well, with no damage, but slightly off-struck. No problems, nothing else interesting. Can't find in any of the catalogues I possess-can anyone else find Scottish sheild at date in their catalogues ?
Charles - We really prefer that multiples of the same post are not posted in other sections. Posting in one section is quite sufficient. I have merged your threads. That being said, could you weigh & measure this coin of yours and report back the results ?
I have to wonder then if the coin is genuine - the correct size is 39mm and the weight 28.3gm. That might explain the rotated arms.
Imagine carrying a half-dozen of those around in your pocket... talk about weighing your pants down! No wonder Scotish men switched to kilts!
Based on the diameter you stated and the weight, the coin would have to be a Four Merks aka a Dollar coin, but... they did not mint any dated 1677. And thus the piece is subject to doubt as far as authenticity. Furthermore the weight and diameter on the authentic coins is indeed subject to variation as the mint was subsequently closed in 1682 by order of Parliament because of alleged improprieties. It was not re-opened until 1687 during the reign of James VII when all new dies etc. were prepared. Because the mint was closed, and being investigated all the dies, punches etc. were subsequently sent to London as part of the investigation. There they sat for over three hundred years until rediscovered late in the 20th century. Curiously because they were held as part of an investigation, they were preserved and not destroyed.
See Coincraft KP coins of England and the United Kingdom. My diameter/weight are in the given ranges. I doubt very much that anyone would fake such a common date in F.
I have numerous references on Scottish coinage, even Coincraft, which on page 161 lists the dates of these as 1664, 1665, 1670 1673, 1674, 1675, 1676, 1679, 1680, 1681, and 1682. As noted earlier, the weight and diameter have to be taken with a grain of salt, since Sir John Falconer, Alexander Maitland, and Archibald Falconer were prosecuted for corruption and in 1683 determined to be guilty of malfeasances with the coinage. As for counterfeits, yes indeed it would have been counterfeited and given a date as such, because counterfeiting was quite common in Scotland right up to the Union in 1707. I have several counterfeits, James IV, Mary etc. that were created contemporaneously and thus are actually now a bit scarcer than the regnal coinage. Most counterfeits created then were actually of smaller denomination coins, where the most need for coinage was. I have myself seen counterfeits of common date bawbees, bodles etc.
