1/2 Merk - Charles II 1st Coinage, Type III

Charles II's Scottish coinage was administered entirely separately from his English issues, struck at the Edinburgh Mint under the Master of the Mint rather than through any unified royal treasury. The merk — a distinctly Scottish denomination valued at 13 shillings and 4 pence Scots — had no English equivalent, a deliberate retention of pre-Union monetary nomenclature that persisted well into the Restoration period despite Charles ruling both kingdoms simultaneously.

The 1675 date falls within the third type of his first Scottish coinage, distinguished by subtle die modifications that numismatists use to sequence the Edinburgh output across the reign. Spink 5616 is among the scarcer annual strikings in this series.