The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society

NOTES ON A FORRES PENNY OF ALEXANDF.R II. 159
may be conceded that the appropriation of these coins to
the Forres mint is correct.
The two coins in the Renfrewshire cabinet above re-
ferred to will be found figured in Mr. Lindsay's book on
the Coinage of Scotland, in Plate III. Fig. 63, and second
supplement to same work, Plate I. Fig. 6, so that it
is unnecessary to do more than to refer to these representations
for comparison with the present coin. It is remark-
able that all the three coins have differences in the
legends, and must, therefore, have been struck from dif-
ferent dies a circumstance indicating either a protracted
stay of the King at Forres, or a sudden demand upon his
treasury while there, necessitating a multiplication of
dies for an immediate and extensive coinage. The die
from which the obverse of the coin now exhibited was
struck would seem to have done much previous service,
for the impression is blurred, and has none of the sharp-
ness to be expected from a newly cut and slightly used die.
On the other hand, the reverse is very much clearer, and
very probably was prepared in Forres for this special coin-
age, and so may be regarded as an undoubted example of
native handiwork of a very early period.
The obverse of the coin is of the usual type, and repre-
sents the King with an old, haggard face
ALEXANDER EEX.
But the reverse legend is rendered differently from those
on the coins already published, and is
WA LTE HOW EES
The weight, too, is considerably above the standard, being
no less than 26 grains; but this is not an exceptional
instance in the long double cross pennies of the Alex-