Farthing of Alexander III

The finder of this coin asked to remain anonymous. He wasn’t sure of the denomination but said the coin was 12mm in diameter and he wanted to know what it might be worth.

This find is a second coinage farthing of Alexander III of Scotland. Within the inner circle on the obverse is the head of King Alexander facing left with a sceptre in front. The legend on this side reads ALEXANDER REX. On the reverse, within each angle of the long cross, is a mullet of six points.

Farthings of Alexander III are nothing like as rare as they used to be. Over the years I have seen several as detecting finds and all of them were unearthed in England. This specimen has an unusual feature, which I have never seen before. All the specimens I have seen had a legend reading SC OT OR VM on the reverse but on this coin it is divided up as MS CO TO RV.    

Valuation

This Scottish farthing would grade about VF and if it had the standard legend on the reverse I’d have priced it at £320. However, with the abnormal legend a specialist collector would probably pay around £100 more to acquire this unusual variety.

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