1/2 Bawbee - Mary I 1st Period

Mary's first coinage period ran from her infancy through the regency of Arran, meaning these pieces were authorized and produced entirely while the queen herself was a child — she was born in December 1542, just days before her father James V died. The billon standard used here reflects Scotland's chronically debased small change, a condition that had worsened steadily through the 1530s and 1540s as successive regents raided mint profits to fund factional politics.

Spink 5435 is among the scarcer denominations of the period. The half bawbee saw hard circulation in small transactions and survivors in any presentable state are genuinely uncommon.