Scottish one shilling piece of James I of England

Michael Young told me that he unearthed this hammered silver coin during the weekend of 11-12 December. However, he said he couldn’t work out if it was English or Scottish, James I or Charles I, but either way this was the only coin of its type he had found in 20 years of detecting.

The coin measures only 14 mm in diameter and has on the obverse a rose within the inner circle and a legend reading I D G ROSA SINE SPINA. Within the inner circle on the reverse is a thistle and the legend on this side reads TVEATVR VNITA DEVS. The mint mark isn’t altogether clear but looks more like a thistle than anything else.

All the information just mentioned points towards this coin being a Scottish one shilling piece of James I of England, VI of Scotland. In Coins of Scotland Ireland and the Islands it is listed as number 5510.    

Valuation

The coin is a bit weak in places and has a tiny edge chip but overall it would grade good Fine. This is actually a pretty scarce little coin and it turns up much less frequently than James I English pennies, which share almost the same design. Pricewise, to a keen collector of Scottish hammered silver this find shouldn’t be worth any less than £80.