THE COINAGE OF SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED FROM THE CABINET OF THOMAS COATS, Esq., OF FERGUSLIE AND OTHER COLLECTIONS By EDWARD BURNS, F.S.A. Scot. IN THREE VOLUMES VOL. I. DAVID I. AD. 1124 TO ROBERT III. AD. 1406 EDINBURGH: ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK 1887 Bebicatefc BY SPECIAL PERMISSION TO Iber flDajc0t^ tfoe <&ueen in J&emottam Widely and deeply regretted ; he, at whose instance this work was under- taken, and whose coins it was primarily intended to illustrate, has passed away while yet it was in process of publication. No one can more regret than the author of these pages that they now can never meet the eye of him for whom they would have had the greatest interest. In educational matters, particularly in relation to those connected with what, in his first interview with the author, he affectionately called his "quaint old town," Mr. Coats was most honourably distinguished. From the first establishment of the Paisley School Board in 1873, till his death on the 15th of October 1883, he acted as Chairman. During this period he subscribed ^"iooo to each of the four new Board Schools, on condition that extra accommodation for the scholars should be provided ; by means of which they now enjoy the most airy and well ventilated schoolrooms in Great Britain. For the erection of a new school at Ferguslie he also granted a free site, together with a donation of ^"iooo. The beautiful Fountain Gardens were presented by him to the community of Paisley. His last great gift to his native town was the liberally furnished and amply endowed Observatory. To every good cause Mr. Coats was ready to extend a helping hand. He was emphatically a man, the mellowed richness of whose nature nothing could change. E. B. vol. i. b preface- The opportunity for the formation of such a large collection in any branch of the numismatic series as that in the Scottish coinage made by the patriotic feeling and liberal tastes of the late Mr. Thomas Coats of Ferguslie is necessarily confined to few. Impressed with the educational importance of a knowledge of the coinage of his native country, Mr. Coats endeavoured to make his col- lection as complete as the opportunities of acquiring specimens would permit, with the view of providing the materials for a more exhaustive investigation of the subject than had hitherto been possible. In the meantime invaluable assistance had been afforded for this purpose in the publication by Mr. Cochran- Patrick of the Records of the Coinage of Scotland, from which most of the numerous quotations from official documents in the following pages have been taken. It was the disadvantage of previous writers on Scottish coins that their knowledge of the contemporary records connected with the coinage was scanty, and in some cases incorrect. They had none of the moneyers' accounts before them. And, above all, they had little opportunity of comparing coins of the same series one with another. The present work contains a detailed description of almost every Scottish coin in the Ferguslie cabinet — the most extensive collection of Scottish coins in all the metals that has ever yet been formed, and to which a most important accession was made while this work was in progress, by the acquisition of the carefully chosen and extensive series of Scottish gold coins in the Carfrae collection, comprising some of the rarest pieces in the coinage. Liberal advantage has been also taken of the examples in other cabinets, public and private, wherever they could illustrate the subject. xii PREFACE. Every Scottish coin in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland has been carefully examined, and all the rare varieties, in which that cabinet richly abounds, have been figured and described. The British and Hunterian Museums have afforded many important specimens. Among private collections, a most valuable contribution has been made by the Pollexfen cabinet, which has been freely placed at the service of the author for this work. To the Cochran- Patrick, Kermack-Ford, Richardson, Guthrie- Lornie, Wakeford, and Sheriff Mackenzie collections he has also been largely indebted. Every coin described has been examined by the author, with the exception of those in the British Museum and Hunterian collections, of which casts were kindly forwarded to him. The Scottish coinage has thus been dealt with in the same manner as if the several examples of the different reigns had all been brought together in one great collection. Owing to the exceptional advantages thus enjoyed, it has been possible for the first time to treat the coinage of Scotland as a whole, and, while giving a more comprehensive view of this great national subject than has ever hitherto been attempted, to enter with greater minuteness into the details. The plates have been executed by M. P. Dujardin of Paris, by the helio-gravure process, and their arrangement has been generally to place together the several pieces related to and illustrative of each other. This has necessarily been done irrespective of the positions of the coins as de- scribed in the body of the work. In each case the number of the coin, as it appears in the descriptive list and in the plates, has been given. The numbers in the plates, where letters are not added, generally refer to the coins in the Ferguslie cabinet ; those with letters added relate to the coins in other collections, the particular collection being in every case specified in the description of the coin itself. In the interleaved descriptions of the plates the names of the gold pieces are printed in capitals, those of the silver pieces in ordinary type, and those of the billon and copper pieces in italics. EDWARD BURNS. Edward Burns, F.S.A. Scot., the Author of this work, died suddenly, from heart disease, 27th March 1886, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. Intended for the ministry, but prevented by loss of hearing, he engaged for a time in business, and after his retirement devoted himself to numis- matic pursuits, in which he found an occupation congenial to his tastes. From his studious habits and retentive memory he soon became a recognised authority in many branches of numismatics. Though in a great measure cut off from social intercourse through his defect of hearing, he possessed a cheerful, self-reliant, and eminently genial nature, and was never happier than when among friends or coins. Naturally attracted to the coinage of his native country by the scope which it afforded for original investigation, and perceiving the importance of a systematic comparison of the various types from a scientific point of view, he set himself to the task of demonstrating their order of development and establishing a system of attributions on a scientific basis. In this purpose he had from the first the cordial support and encourage- ment of the late Mr. Thomas Coats, by whom he was requested to prepare the present description of the Coinage of Scotland as represented in the Ferguslie collection. To this work he devoted, almost uninterruptedly, the last seven years of his life. By his lamented decease a large portion of the work as now issued has been deprived of the advantage of his careful revision. At the time of his death the sheets of the first volume, with their relative plates, had passed through the press, and the remainder of the work was in such a state of preparation as to indicate the form and order of its several parts. These materials, partly in proofs and partly in manuscript, were subse- quently placed in my hands by the publishers, with a request, on behalf X i v POSTSCRIPT. of Mr. James Coats Junior, that I would undertake the completion of the work from them. Having in view the extent and minuteness of Mr. Burns's researches, and the laborious assiduity with which they had been prosecuted for so many years, I was unwilling to encounter the difficulties inseparable from an undertaking for which I felt myself very incompetent. But the painful alternative of the possible loss to science of the results of these researches I induced me to disregard personal inclination ; and the assurance that might rely on the valued aid of Dr. Joseph Anderson and the Rev. J. H. Pollexfen encouraged me to make the attempt. To the assistance so cordially given in comparing, verifying, and revising the descriptions of the coins, the work owes more than I can possibly express. To Dr. Anderson my thanks are especially due, since without his help the work might never have been completed. Mr. Pollexfen's intimate knowledge of the subject, and his untiring supervision of the work during its progress, have also been of the greatest importance. Yet, even with all the care that has been taken to ensure accuracy, mistakes will doubtless have occurred, especially as it was found impossible in every case to recover and verify the particular coin described. If any such errors are to be found, it is hoped that they may be ascribed to the disadvantages of the case, and not to any want of effort to reproduce the author's materials in the most complete and faithful manner. GEORGE SIM. July 30t/i, 1887. [Mr. George Sim, F.S.A. Scot., died 8th October 1887, in the 73d year of his age, while the last sheets of this work were passing through the press.] 2 Contents of 3HoL L PAGES Introduction xvii-xxi Preliminary Remarks 1-8 David I. Class I. —Berwick, Roxburgh, Uncertain Mints 8-15 Class II. —Degraded Coinage 15-22 Class III.—English Types, Edinburgh, Corebridge of Earl Henry, Carlisle 22-32 Class IV.