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Scotland, Mary Queen of Scots, 1553 Half-Lion of Twenty-Two Shillings MS63
Scotland, Mary Queen of Scots (1542-67), gold 22 Shillings, first period, 1553, crowned Scottish arms, pellet over crown, I G either side for Jacobus Gubernator, legend surrounding between wire thin linear circles, outer toothed border to rim, MARIA. D. G. R. SCOTORVM, rev. crowned Mary Regina monogram, cinquefoil either side, date in legend, DILIGITE IVSTICIAM 1553 (Burns 3, fig.816; SCBI35:987; SCBI 58;253-4; SCBI 71:548 Stewartby; S.5396). Lustrous, has been slabbed and graded by NGC as MS63, very pleasing.
NGC Certification 3074700-001 - the joint finest graded as of February 2024.
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 Patrick Finn, Cumbria, List 17, item 15 1999.
Ex I. M. W. Ure, A Fine Collection of British Coins, Third Part, Mark Rasmussen Numismatist, List 3, item C243, 2002.
Ex Robert Wilson Collection, Spink Coin Auction, 27th June 2007, lot 142.
Ex Loch Ness Collection, Stacks Bowers Galleries, 16th August 2021, lot 41507.