King James the First Hammered Silver Penny

[gigmaster]

You never know what the next shovelful will bring. In this case it was a King James the First Hammered Silver Penny! Had a great day finding lots of civil war relics and right in the middle of it all this penny. The farm dates back to the 1600's but had a lot of civil war activity too. Here is a video of the hunt!

 

[Silver Tree Chaser]

That's an amazing find! Big congratulations! Got me scared thou when you tried to unbend it.

Aureus: I didn't know what you meant till I watched the video. Yes, I held my breath watching Gigmaster attempt to bend the coin back into place, but he made out o.k. I big congrats to Gigmaster on recovering a coin dating back to the arrival of the first English. That's a banner vote in my book all day long. Voting now.

 

[toasted]

That James I six pence i just watched you dig kinda makes this find mediocre. Lol

 

[CRUSADER]

Great find!

I think the situation that crusader identified with the coinage number not matching up to the mint mark is because rather than an English penny the coin is likely to be a 1 shilling issued in Scotland by James i in his role as James VI of Scotland.

During James reign 1 English pound equalled 12 Scottish pounds so an English penny was the equivalent of a Scottish shilling and the designs used on equivalent coins were very similar.

Here is a Scottish shilling with the same design as yours:
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/123751

Although I can't find a shilling with the same mintmark there is a two shillings here with it so it was probably also used on the shilling:
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/781238

Hopefully someone might have the relevant literature to tie the mintmark to a year, it may be that it's the same as the English escallop mark identified by Bill D and used in the same year?

Jamie

A James VI Scottish Shilling crossed my mind but as far as my books goes it only states the thistle mintmark. However, the one you linked doesn't have a thistle, so I guess I need a more detailed book.
I had a quick look at the vid to get a size reference & remember thinking it looked a little big for an English Penny, so I think this is the right direction.

This would make it rarer than an English coin, so that's good news.

 

[CRUSADER]

Aureus: I didn't know what you meant till I watched the video. Yes, I held my breath watching Gigmaster attempt to bend the coin back into place, but he made out o.k. I big congrats to Gigmaster on recovering a coin dating back to the arrival of the first English. That's a banner vote in my book all day long. Voting now.

I unbend hammereds all the time, in the field.

 

[cw0909]

thought this old coin guide would help, seems not
something may be in it, havent read cover to cover yet

James 1 mint marks pg 251
https://archive.org/stream/handbookofcoinso00brituoft#page/251/mode/1up

 

[RustyGold]

Bravo! Bucket lister! Banner!

 

[Aureus]

I unbend hammereds all the time, in the field.

I would as well if I was digging dozens of them

 

[JamieD]

Maybe your book is detailed enough after all and the PAS database has the IDs wrong.

The coin guide posted by cw909 agrees with your book that all Scottish shillings of James vi have a thistle mint mark so it looks like we could be back to square one and an English penny!

We're really in need of someone with a good reference book to Scottish silver coins!

 

[CRUSADER]

Steve - I'm still drooling over that one as it's a hammered I have yet to dig. As far as it's dating, I'm reposting the comment I made on Facebook so others here can see. Here it is:

"Great find Steve! If you look at the 12 o'clock position along the top edge of the coin in your photo on the left you'll see a mint mark that sort of looks like an upside down hand with 5 fingers. That's called an escallop, and during the reign of James I it was used only for the period 1606-1607. So that should be a very close dating clue for your coin. Below is another example of an escallop mint mark shown in a sidebar that appears on page 79 of my new book, It's #4, and it's displayed on a James I sixpence that was one of many hammered coins I recovered at an early site not far from my home." This coin has a date of 1606 on the reverse which confirms the mint mark.

View attachment 1516788

Congrats again on a killer coin!!

It is as you first thought 1606-07 Penny.
I mis-read the book, the second coinage does have pennies without the crowns.

 

[CRUSADER]

Maybe your book is detailed enough after all and the PAS database has the IDs wrong.

The coin guide posted by cw909 agrees with your book that all Scottish shillings of James vi have a thistle mint mark so it looks like we could be back to square one and an English penny!

We're really in need of someone with a good reference book to Scottish silver coins!

I mis-read the book the ID is correct now, I checked with one of my coin contacts.