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44 Shillings - Mary I 1st Period, 1st Issue
| Issuer | Scotland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1553 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 44 Shillings (2.2) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central shield bearing the crowned royal arms of Mary as Queen of Scots, rendered in a bold hammered style. The letter 'I' (for Iacobus, referencing her Stuart lineage) appears to the left of the shield and 'G' to the right, both in the field. The surrounding legend is separated from the central device by a plain inner circle, with the inscription running continuously around the periphery in Gothic-influenced Latin capitals. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Mary I's first coinage as Queen of Scots was authorized almost immediately after her formal assumption of the crown, though she was still a child resident in France under the guardianship of the French court. The Edinburgh mint struck this issue in her name while she remained abroad, a political formality that carried real weight — maintaining a functioning Scottish coinage was essential to asserting the crown's authority during the regency of Mary of Guise.
Sp#5394 is among the scarcer denominations of the first issue. The 44-shilling piece corresponds to a distinctly Scottish valuation system that had no direct English equivalent, reflecting the divergence between the two kingdoms' monetary standards well before the union debates of the following century.