12 Shillings - Charles I 1st Coinage

Charles I's Scottish coinage was administered separately from his English issues, struck at the Edinburgh Mint under the master of the mint Nicholas Briot's broader reform agenda for the Scottish series. The 12 shillings occupied an awkward denominational position in a monetary system already strained by the divergence between Scottish and English pound values — by this period the Scottish pound had depreciated to roughly one-twelfth of its English equivalent, making cross-border accounting a persistent headache for merchants.

The 1st Coinage designation distinguishes this issue from later Scottish strikes following Briot's more mechanized production methods introduced after 1636.