Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1/2 Merk - Charles II 1st Coinage, Type II
| Issuer | Edinburgh Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1664-1673 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 3.36 g |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Laureate and draped bust of King Charles II facing right, rendered in a robust baroque style, with long flowing curly hair falling to the shoulder. The king is depicted wearing a wreath of laurel and classical drapery. The circular Latin legend reads CAROLVS · II · DEI : GRA · (Charles II, by the Grace of God), interrupted by the portrait, with pellet stops separating the words. The effigy fills the central field with strong relief typical of the engraving style of James Clark for the Scottish milled coinage. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | CAROLVS II · DEI : GRA · (Translation: Charles II, by the Grace of God) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Scottish merk — valued at 13 shillings and 4 pence Scots — was a denomination so entangled in Scotland's separate monetary system that it survived the Restoration essentially unchanged, even as English coinage was being modernized by the newly established milled coinage of the Tower Mint. Charles II's Scottish issues were struck at Edinburgh under the master of the mint Nicholas Dumbar, using machinery that lagged well behind English standards. The result was a coinage prone to irregular planchets and inconsistent striking pressure across the dies.
Spink 5614 distinguishes this as the Type II variety of the first coinage, differentiated by specific legend punctuation and bust characteristics established after the initial 1664 dies were revised.