Among the Earliest Scottish Coins

CNG 109, Lot: 982. Estimate $2500. Sold for $2750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SCOTLAND. David I. 1124-1153. AR Penny (20mm, 1.33 g, 10h). Period A. Cross moline (Watford) type in the name of Stephen of England. Carlisle mint; Erembald, moneyer. Struck circa 1136 to beginning of the 1140s. + STEPENE RE+ :, crowned bust right; lis-tipped scepter to right / + EREBALD : ON CARD, cross moline; lis in quarters. Burns –; M&C, Carlisle, Scottish group b, fig 7; cf. North 873 (for type); SCBC 5002. VF, toned, minor laminations and porosity on obverse. Very rare and among the earliest examples of Scottish coinage.

Ex Spink 223 (26 March 2014), lot 1506.

According to Mattinson and Cherry, the Carlisle coins that copy the Stephen type I were all struck from local dies and are thought to have been issued by the Scots at Carlisle in Stephen’s name. Under the terms of the Treaty of Durham between Stephen and David, David’s son Henry was granted the earldom of Northumberland, which included control of the city of Carlisle.