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COINAGE DIES. (I.I Hav) E Place N Thidi S E Matricesgrouth L Al P , Punches Died an ,S Which Appea Havo T R E Been Use R Preparedo D E Strikinfoth R F Coinso G

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COINAGE DIES. (I.I Hav) E Place N Thidi S E Matricesgrouth L Al P , Punches Died an ,S Which Appea Havo T R E Been Use R Preparedo D E Strikinfoth R F Coinso G 8 30 PROCEEDING E , SOCIETY191510 TH Y F . O S MA , I. NOTEA COLLECTIO ON S COININOF N G INSTRUMENTTHE IN S NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ANTIQUITIES, EDINBURGH. BY W. J. HOCKING, CURATOR AND LIBRARIAN OP THE ROYAL MINT. By the kind permission of the Director, I was afforded facilities for examinin e coiningth g instrument Nationae th n i s l Museum, Edinburgh. The collection is of much value historically, while numerically it ranks in this country nexRoyae thao th t t n ti l Mint Museum. wels i t lI know1 n thar nationaou t l record e deplorablar s y lackin n examplei g e th f o s mediaeval tools used in the production of medals and coins. On this account alone, therefore, it is of special interest to find that this collec- tion includes a coinage die of the fourteenth century, a medal die of the sixteenth century, and a considerable number of both coinage and medal dies of the seventeenth century. Fresh material is thus added to the scanty store existing for the study of the rise and development of this- important brance finth e f artsho . Amongst the collection, which is mainly composed of dies prepared for use, there are also pattern dies. The latter, in addition to their special features of workmanship and design, have an attraction for the numismatist because, so far as can be ascertained, no corresponding coins or medals have as yet been recorded. The collectio matrices3 n 16 contain l al , n i puncheonss died n ,an i s great variety. For the purposes of this paper they may be divided into- followine th g classes: r coinsfo 7 (I..13 ) medalsr fo 1 1 (II..) (III.) 3 for tradesmen's tokens. (IV.) 12 sundry small punches. COINAGE DIES. (I.I hav) e place n thidi s e matricesgrouth l al p , punches died an ,s which appea havo t r e been use r preparedo d e strikinfoth r f coinso g . Nearly the whole of the group belongs to the second coinage of Charles II. for Scotland. Of the 137 dies, 1 only is of the fourteenth century, 2 are of Queen Anne's reign, while the remaining 134 are for the 1 I find, however, that the collection at the British Museum, including medal dies, contains, with recent additions, between 400 and 500 pieces, and therefore comes next to that at the Mint, which numbers upward 7000f so . COLLECTION OF SCOTTISH COINING INSTRUMENTS. 309 silver and copper coinages undertaken in the years 1675 to 1682, including pattern dies. The oldest tool is a reverse die for striking silver pennies (fig. 1; Fig. 1. David II. penny, reverse die or trussel. Thi1) . s No coininfig d , 2 .an g iro abous ni | inchet3 lengtn i s h arif o d roughle th y cylindrical shap e r trusse e e uppeo usua th th e f n di i ro l mediaeval period, when the percussive blow necessary to impress the disc of silve r otheo r r metal wit e engrave a cophth f e yo di de th fac f o e was delivered by means of a hammer. 310 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MAY 10, 1915. The reverse of this die only records the title of the issuing sovereign, s namhi e appearin e obverseth n g o whico t ,t thino n i h e s ar cas e ew able to refer. The type or device consists of a long cross pattee, the four limbs of which extend to the outer edge of the face of the die, which is 0'75 inch in diameter. There is an inner circle, 0*5 inch in diameter, which encloses four six-pointed mullets, one in each angle of the cross. Surrounding this e circllegenth s ei d SCOTORUM REX. This form of the royal style is first found on the pennies of the second issue of Alexander III. (1279), and was continued on the coins y successivb e monarchs, with minor modifications n thI e. reigf o n David II. (1329-1371), moneyers were' introduced into the Scottish Mint from a markeItaly d an , d artistic improvemen s observabli t e e cointh sn i of, this reign, analogou e improvementh o t s t which characterises contemporary English coins. This Lombardic influence is noticeable in the lettering as well as in the portraiture and the general style of the coins of David II., and constitutes a mark of identification. From the style of the letters, this die should be assigned to the first coinage of David II. (1329-1358). Its letters, however, are clumsily inscriptioe formed t th bee no d n s an use, s ha blunderedni de di e Th . to strike coins, and because of the obvious errors in engraving it was probably discarde spoila s da t tool. circumscriptioe Th s dividedni , accordin e periode usagth th f o ego t , into four sections by the limbs of the cross, and its arrangement, com- pa,red with coins of David II. and with those of his predecessor, Robert Bruce, is as follows: ? (1) | ^ S 9 0 TOR|VM^|RaX | (Museum die.) " (2 I ) SaO|TOR|VMRJGX>!« Burns.n i 5 | (Bruc22 . ) No e: (3) | Ra"x|saO|TOR|VM^ (David II.: No. 229 in Burns.) (4 | ) RSX|SO VR JT | k 0 I Burns.(DaviT n i T 3 O d23 ) . II.No : It will be observed that in three out of the four instances (Nos. 2-4) the inscription is divided into four equal groups of three letters each. In No. 2, the coin of Bruce, the balance is obtained by adding a small 1 cross pattecoie th f David n, o 3 e . e crosafteth ,No s adden rsi i EX d dan ; after VM, making the title read REX SCOTORUM >%< instead of SCOTORUM REX >J< as in the previous reign. In the later coins of David, two TT's were xised and the cross pattee omitted to secure a symmetrical distribution of three letter n eaci s h quadrant (No . SCOTTORU4) . e invariablth s Mi e spelling e Greaoth n e ts seconsuppresse th Seals wa t e coindT bu th , o t sn o d inscriptione 1Th takee sar n fro platee mth voln si . iiiBurnsf o . , Coinage of Scotland. 312 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MAY 10, 1915. maintain twelve characterr equafo l lal subdivision i s n whe e crosth n s patte includeds ewa . e cas th f thi(No e o , howevern di sI 1) . , ther s evidencei a cros f o es before the S and after the M also, resulting in four letters in one of quarterse th engravee additioe Th .th horizontaa y b rf o n l stroks eha produced a Lombardic E where C should be. Having regard to the frequency with which mediaeval coins occur having misshapen letters and blundered inscriptions, it must stand to the credit of some unknown cuneato moneyer ro t broughr no tha s t wa t thi inte sdi o use. The M is not very distinct, but it appears to be Roman rather than Lombardic n thiI . s respec t correspondi t s wit e coin th hf Rober o s t Bruc witd e verean hth y earliest coin f Davio s . II dFro e generamth l style, however, ther , perhapseis greatee th , r reaso r attributinnfo e gth die to the latter monarch. t appearI s that this trusse discoveres wa l ruine th sn di calle d King Malcolm's Castlee groundth n i , f Pittencriefo s f near Dunfermliner D . Society'e Scottth n i , s Proceedings,1 assign Alexandeo t t i s e rh III.t bu , is incline regarcontemporara o dt s a t di y forgery. Opposin theore gth y authorisen a s thawa throwt e ti ddi n asid accounn e o blunders s it f o t r D , Scott states tha sucn i t ha cas t woulei d have been first defaced. This argumen f courso s i t e inconclusive, sinc t i woule e impossiblb d o t e establish (1) that there were no exceptions to the general rule of deface- ment, and (2) that this die was not one of the exceptions. Blundered dies were not only produced sometimes, but used, for many coins of most periods are extant bearing silent witness to the fallibility of die-engraver cuneatorsd an s . Owholee nth t wouli , d seem that ther e gooear d ground r acceptsfo - thig in s die s faultspitn it i , f workmanshipn eo i s genuina s a , e coining tool of the fourteenth century. As already remarked, nearly the whole of these coining dies relate to the second issue of the Scottish coinage of Charles II. They range from 1675—th e introductio th dat f o e f whao n s usualli t y callee dth silver dollar2 and its parts—to 1682, and include dies for the new coinage of copper money ordere Februarn di y e matrices1677Th . , puncheons, and dies are badly worn and corroded. Amounting to 134 in number, they comprise 65 for the silver coinage, 44 for the copper coinage, 21 which are indecipherable, and 4 for coins of other periods. The general shap sizd f thesean eo e coining instrument e photo seee th b n ni y - ma s Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scotland, vol. li. p. 54. Dr Scott speaks of the engraver " cutting A for O in th1 e same word," bnt I think he must mean " E for the Lombardic C." In the Privy Council Act referring to the coinage, the terms for the various denominations are2 based on the merk as the unit.
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