THE COIN COLLECTOR - World eBook Library

UNITED KINGDOM
immemorial, a medium for perpetuating historical events
and personal merit, met with no further response than
we find in the pattern halfpenny with the Britannia
holding a rose and thistle sprung from one stem, and
the farthing commemorating the general peace of 1713
with the legend Pax Missa per Orbem. Of the half-
penny there are at least five varieties, and of the smaller
piece as many. A good specimen of the common farth-
ing of 1714 is worth about 12s.
The union of the kingdoms in 1707 put a term to
the special coinage for Scotland, which since the advent
to the British throne of James VI. in 1603 had accumu-
lated into a very large and important volume in all
metals, and embraced many fine examples of numismatic
skill. The series extends from 1605 to 1642, and from
1661 to 1709 ; there was an interruption during the
Civil War and the Republic, and in this long interval the
old coins doubtless circulated exclusively. Among the
rarities may be mentioned the first coinage of James
I., the quarter and eighth unit of Charles I., the sixty-
shilling piece of James II., and the sixty-shilling piece
of William III. The Darien pistole and half-pistole
of 1701 are also valuable, and interesting as the last
gold money of Scotland. But the gold unit of Charles
I., by Briot (1637), is the chef-d'oeuvre, although it is
by no means uncommon. To obtain these productions
of the more recent epoch, however, in fine state is
generally a task of almost equal difficulty with that
attending the earlier reigns ; and the remark most
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