Scotland, James II gold Lion of 10 Shillings, ex Mrs Joan Murray nee Clarke

Scotland, James II (1437-60), gold Lion of Ten Scottish Shillings, second coinage (1451-60), second issue, type II, crowned Scottish arms, crown with hatched interior, lis either side of shield with linear circle around, beaded circles and legend beyond, initial mark crown, IACOBVS DEI GRAxx REXxx SCOTTORVm++, double saltire stops terminating in a double lis stop, rev. Saint Andrew on saltire cross to rim of coin, crowned lis either side, legend surrounding with beaded circles, initial mark crown at top, X PCxx REGn ATxx XP C VInCIT X P, weight 3.64g (Burns 6, fig.528; SCBI 35 [Ashmolean], 690; SCBI 72 [Stewartby], 571-72; S.5222). Toned, some weakness at centre otherwise about very fine and rare.

The abbreviated obverse legend translates as "James, by the Grace of God, King of Scotland." and on the reverse "Christ reigns, Christ conquers, Christ" the legend is seemingly incomplete for this denomination as the last C of Christ is not present nor the word "imperat", which when seen on other coins of the medieval period complete the legend as "Christ commands."

King James II of Scotland was born on 16^th October 1430 and was crowned at Holyrood at the age of 6 on 23^rd March 1437. He later married Mary of Guelders at the age of 18 in Holyrood Abbey on the 3^rd July 1449. In late 1455 he proposed a joint action with France against England but support never appeared, and after ravaging the north of England he concluded a peace treaty with King Henry VI in 1457. He was later killed when laying siege to the still English held Roxburgh castle on the 3^rd of August 1460 by the accidental exploding of a cannon.

Provenance:
Ex Mrs Joan E. L. Murray MBE, Scottish Coins, Baldwin Auction 26, 9^th May 2001, lot 1913.

Ex A. H. Baldwin, Fixed Price List, Winter 2008, item SC004.

Ex Richard Jourdan Collection, C.N.G. Triton XXIII, 15^th January 2020, lot 1255.

Mrs Murray was born Joan Elisabeth Lowther Clarke on the 24^th June 1917 and was awarded her M.B.E. in 1946 for her role in the Enigma project in World War II as an expert cryptanalyst working at Bletchley Park closely with Alan Turing. She later married Lieutenant Colonel J. K. R. Murray on the 26^th July 1952 at Chichester Cathedral having met in 1947. They both shared a lifelong interest in Numismatics and particularly Scottish coins. Mrs Murray outlived her husband and passed away on 4^th September 1996 at 7 Larkfields, Headington Quarry, Oxford, a house which is now marked by an Oxfordshire blue plaque as of 27^th July 2019.

A Hollywood film was made about the codebreaking at Bletchley Park in 2014 called "The Imitation Game" starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing and Keira Knightly as Joan Clarke, the former owner of this coin.