60 Shillings - William II

William II of Scotland — William III of England — never visited Scotland after taking the throne, yet his reign produced some of the most politically charged coinage in Scottish history. The 60 Shillings issue of 1699 came just two years before the Act of Union negotiations began gaining serious momentum, and the Edinburgh Mint was producing silver coinage under increasingly difficult circumstances: the Darien Scheme had financially devastated Scotland that same year, draining an estimated quarter of the country's liquid capital in a single failed colonial venture.

Spink 5678 is among the scarcer denominations of the William II Scottish series.