Scotland, Mary, 1553 gold Lion of Forty-Four shillings AU55

Scotland, Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-67), gold 44 Shillings, first period, 1553, crowned Scottish arms, I G either side for Jacobus Gubernator, legend surrounding between wire thin linear circles, outer toothed border to rim, MARIA. DEI. GRA. R. SCOTORVM, rev. crowned Mary Regina monogram, cinquefoil either side, date in legend, DILIGITE IVSTICIAM 1553 (Burns 3, fig.812; SCBI35:984; cf.SCBI 58;252; S.5394). Toned, has been slabbed and graded by NGC as AU55.

NGC certification 1879471-004.

The letters I and G either side of the Scottish arms stand for "James, Earl of Arran, Regent and Governer of Scotland" which appear in the first period for Mary's reign before marriage. The abbreviated Latin legends translate as on the obverse "Mary, by the Grace of God, Queen of Scotland" and on the reverse "Observe Justice". A great deal of the gold in the coinage of Scotland at this period was mined locally principally from Crawford Moor, when nuggets from 2 grams to 30 ounces were discovered in the reign of James I (1406-37). These gold coins were minted in 22 carat gold. Mary abdicated from the Scottish throne in 1567 in favour of her young son James VI, who later united the Kingdom of Scotland with England as Great Britain, and as King James I of England.

Provenance:

Ex Spink Coin Auction 11, 8-9th October 1980, lot 1060.

Ex Loch Ness Collection, Stacks Bowers Galleries, 16^th August 2021, lot 41506.