[MR] BBC: Earliest Scottish Coin

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble friends, especially fellow Scots,

Today the BBC is offering a story about the earliest coin known to have
been minted in Scotland (then known as "Alba").

The coin in question is an 1130-ish silver penny struck in Edinburgh during
the reign of David I (ruled 1124-1153). According to the article, David was
the first Scottish king to establish a firm monetary system, and the first
to issue Scottish-minted coins. King David had earlier ordered coins minted
in Carlisle when he controlled that city, but Carlisle was soon last to the
Scots. Until David's innovations, Scotland used a hodge-podge of English,
Viking, continental and even Roman coins, all with different values that
made for very messy commerce indeed.

This is especially of interest to me, as I have been working on an article
about Macbeth (the "real" Macbeth), who is known to have distributed alms
during his 1050 pilgrimage to Rome. So I was left wondering if there were
any surviving Macbeth-minted coins. Well, the answer is "no", because there
weren't any. Apparently Macbeth was throwing around somebody else's money.

The Edinburgh silver coin was found . . . [cue the drumroll] . . . by a
metal detectorist in Midlothian during 2023. The finder dutifully reported
his discovery to authorities. It was officially valued at £15,000, which
has now been paid to the finder. The coin is now being studied at the
National Museums of Scotland, and hopefully will someday go on display.

The story is found at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g5n3gld45o .

A bio sketch on David I is at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_I_of_Scotland .

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
Continuing a crusade to keep the original Merry Rose relevant and in
business.