Ace History Desk – A Metal Detectorist Discovered the Earliest Known Coin Ever Produced in a Scottish Mint
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Experts previously thought the first Scottish coins were minted in England, but this penny came from Edinburgh. National Museums Scotland has now acquired the historic piece of silver
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In 2023, a metal detectorist in Scotland found a small silver penny decorated with royal imagery. National Museums Scotland (NMS) has now acquired the 900-year-old artifact, which is the earliest known coin minted in Scotland.
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“This coin was minted in the name of King David I, who ruled Scotland from 1124 to 1153, and David introduced the first coinage minted in Scotland,” Alice Blackwell, senior curator of medieval archaeology and history at NMS, tells the PA News Agency. “Scotland had never produced coinage before. Any coins that are found in Scotland before this date have been minted elsewhere, whether that’s Roman Age coinage, or Viking Age coinage or medieval coinage.”
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The silver coin was found in a forest near the small town of Penicuik, about ten miles south of Edinburgh. The finder reported it to Scotland’s Treasure Trove, which recently allocated the coin to NMS.
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Experts say the coin dates to the late 1130s, per the PA News Agency. According to a video posted on Facebook by NMS, the artifact was made by hammering a thin piece of silver onto a metal stamp called a die, which features a raised design.
When the first Scottish coins were minted, “only silver pennies were produced,” wrote Cameron Maclean, a historian at the University of Glasgow, on the Hunterian museum’s blog in 2023. “Scotland’s coinage consisted solely of silver coins for the next two centuries.”
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Early Scottish currency
The first Scottish gold coins, modeled on English currency, weren’t minted until the 14th century.
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One side of the Penicuik coin is marked by David’s portrait, while the other has a cross design and an inscription indicating that the coin was minted in Edinburgh.
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All previously discovered examples of David’s early coinage were minted in Carlisle, in northern England. “This coin is really significant because it’s the first of that earliest type, the earliest coins, to actually have been minted outside of Carlisle,” Blackwell tells the PA News Agency. “It was minted in Edinburgh, so it’s the first time that we have Scottish coinage being minted in what was a core part of the Scottish kingdom.”
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Until this artifact’s discovery, experts assumed that all of David’s early coinage came from Carlisle, because there are few records explaining how, where or when Scottish coins were produced. “There’s very, very little documentary sources for that for Scotland,” Blackwell adds. “So the coins themselves are the primary source.”
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Later in David’s reign, coins were minted in towns like Aberdeen, Perth, Roxburgh, St. Andrews and Berwick-upon-Tweed. The 12th-century king founded Scotland’s first royal burghs, established major monasteries, extended royal control to parts of northern and western Scotland, and reformed systems of governance and administration, according to the NMS video.
Experts think someone accidentally dropped the Edinburgh coin during medieval times, reports the PA News Agency. Blackwell says that early Scottish coins are quite rare, and she hopes the newly discovered example will expand researchers’ understanding of early Scottish mints. Eventually, experts hope the coin will be displayed in a museum.
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