1/2 Testoon - Mary I 1st Period, Type IIIa

Mary I returned to Scotland from France in 1561, but these coins predate that arrival entirely — struck during her reign as absentee queen while she remained at the French court, governance left largely to the regent Mary of Guise. The Sp#5411 designation places this squarely within the third type of the first period, distinguished by subtle die differences that Scottish moneyers introduced incrementally across the mid-1550s issues.

Scottish testoons of this period were struck at Edinburgh, a mint operating under chronic pressure to maintain fineness while managing a currency that France, England, and domestic merchants were all quietly undermining through coin clipping and foreign exchange manipulation.