THE COIN COLLECTOR - World eBook Library

THE COLLECTOR SERIES
Kingdom is ascribed to the reign of Alexander I.
(1107-24); there is nothing but the silver penny, of
more or less barbarous execution, anterior to the reign
of Alexander III. (1249-85), who added the half-
penny and farthing, and greatly improved the fabric
and style by following the English model. We have,
perhaps, to attrioute to the residence of David II. in
England his subsequent adoption of the groat and the
noble, of which the latter is extremely rare, and was
possibly never published. Both pieces belong to the
latter part of his reign. With Robert II., his immediate
successor, the regular gold coinage began. We
meet with the types of the St. Andrew, the Lion, the
Unicorn, the Rider, the Bonnet-piece, the Ecu, the Ryal,
the Merk, the Noble, the Hat-piece, the Sword-and-
Sceptre, and the Unit, in gold, and in silver, billon,
or copper, upon the accession of Mary and the growth
of foreign influence, the testoon in several varieties, the
Ryal, the Dollar, the Shilling, Merk, and Penny, with
their multiples, the multiples of the pound Scots up to
twenty, the Black, the Bawbee, the Lion or Hardhead, the
Turner, and the Bodle, besides the ordinary English de-
nominations with distinctive marks subsequent to 1707.
A certain historical interest attaches itself to the
coins of John Baliol (none of Edward Baliol have
been found), Robert Bruce, James IV., and Mary
but, as a general proposition, the Scotish money
commands attention, first, because it is Scotish, and,
secondly, because it embraces a large number of pieces,
principally fractional portions, of singular rarity. Here
170
;