The Early Coinage of Scotland. 285 



26th April, 1912. 



Chairman — Dr J. W. Martin, Hon. V.P. 



The Early Coinage of Scotland. With Special Reference to 

 a Small Group of the Early Coins of Alexander III. By 

 Mr James Davidson, F. S.A.Scot. 



It has been well said that old coins have a strange fascination 

 for most people, the uninitiated as well as the expert. They seem 

 to suggest so much that one naturally feels a strong desire to know 

 the story they may have to tell. They may be considered among 

 the smallest of the antiquities of Scotland, yet none possess a 

 greater interest. It is strange that the coinage of Scotland should 

 not have had the same amount of study devoted to it as those of 

 some other countries have called forth. The different mintages 

 of the different reigns are quite as interesting, and present many 

 intricate questions to elucidate. It is only of recent date that 

 investigations of a systematic and .scientific nature were under- 

 taken to put the coinage upon a sound footing. The Records 

 of the Privy Council and Exchequer, the Acts of Parliament and 

 other original documents in connection with the Scottish Mint 

 were searched, and the information obtained, along with a care- 

 ful examination of the coins themselves, gave the precise 

 knowledge necessary for their proper classification. The coinage 

 of Scotland, so far as we have evidence at present, commenced 

 with David I., although very probably it had a borrowed cur- 

 rency long before this. The finds of Roman coins, Anglo-Saxon 

 and Northumbrian Stycas, may go to prove that they were all in 

 use as a currency prior to David I., although even in his reign 

 offences were frequently punished by fines of cattle. 



The types of the early Scottish coins copied very closely the 

 contemporary coinage of England; they were of much the same 

 weight and composition. This similarity of the coinage of 

 David I. to Stephen can be well understood. Mr Edward Burns 

 in the Coinage of Scotland, in reference to the relation of the 

 Scottish to the English Coinage, quotes from E. W. Robertson 

 and the contemporary Malmesbury as follows : — " An intimate 

 connection with the Court of England for upwards of a quarter 



