Scotland, James VI 1576 Quarter Merk, extremely rare date

James VI of Scotland (1567-1625), second coinage, base silver Quarter Merk or Half-Noble of Forty Pence, or Three Shillings and Fourpence, dated 1576, crowned Scottish arms, 3 to left, 4 to right, linear circle and legend surrounding, +.IACOBVS. 6. DEI. GRATIA. REX. SCOTORVM., rev. five-pointed star at centre of cross with fleur and lis terminals, thistle and crown in alternate angles, linear circle and legend surrounding, +.SALVVM. FAC. POPVLVM. TVVM. DNE 1576., weight 3.47g (S.C.B.I. 35:- Ashmoleon & Hunterian; S.C.B.I. 58:1433 Scotland; S.C.B.I. 71:- Stewartby; Burns 4, cf.fig.929; S.5479). Unevenly toned, probably from once being in the ground, good fine to almost very fine with clearer defining elements like the date, an extremely rare date it would seem judging by the institutional holdings.

The abbreviated Latin legends translate as on the obverse "James the Sixth, by the grace of God, King of the Scots" and on the reverse "O Lord, save Thy people" a Psalm from the Bible.

Only the National Museum of Scotland has an example of the 1576 dated Quarter Merk plus one other with the crowns in the 1^st and 4^th angles (Burns 5). It would therefore seem to be an extremely rare date. We could not find any others from a brief search of the Coin Archives website, or the third party grading services either.

The earliest surviving documentation from 1571 called for this denomination to be issued at 11 deniers fineness (0.925 silver) however, no coins are known of such fineness and date and there follows an Act of Parliament at Leith dated 31^st March 1572 where a new coinage is ordered of Half Merk at 104.7 grains weight and Quarter Merk at 52.35 grains. The following Act of Privy Council of 12^th May 1572 debased this new coinage to 8 deniers fineness (0.666 silver) which meant it was quickly counterfeited by the partisans of Mary on a 6 deniers fineness basis (0.500 silver). The issue of this coinage was complained about to such an extent that at a meeting of the Estates of Holyrood House, James the Earl of Morton proposed to do away with these Half and Quarter Merks and reduce all the other silver money to a 10 deniers fineness (0.833 silver) at 30 shillings to the ounce, but no further action was taken. However, no further coinage of this type was issued between 21^st March 1577/8 (old style / new style) until 1580 giving a gap in the dates issued. An Act of Privy Council of 4^th May 1580 proposed to mint 600 stone of such coins to help clear his Majesty's debts, charges and expenses. The coinage was not issued to the extent prescribed and the 1580 date is a particularly rare to find. The Hopetoun manuscripts tell us silver was particularly scarce and from 5^th September 1580 until 5^th January 1580/1 (old style / new style) only a Scottish weight of 50 stone 13 pounds, of the 8 deniers fine (0.666 silver) was issued.

Provenance:

Ex Mark Rasmussen Numismatist, list 8 - item 390; list 20 - item 527; list 28 - item 658.