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Scottish Coins ~ Anne (1702-1714)
Queen Anne - Queen of Scotland, England and then Great Britain This important reign in British history is now remembered most for the Act of Union of 1707, which effectively unified Great Britain into the United Kingdom with the formalised unification of the Scottish and English Kingdoms. Anne was the second daughter of James II and really had not been anticipated to ever ascend the throne. Anne married Prince George of Denmark in 1683 when she was eighteen. In their nearly twenty five years of marriage they had an incredible nineteen children, fourteen of whom were stillborn, and only one, Prince William lived beyond two years. Unfortunately despite all these children, even Prince William died in 1700 aged eleven years, leaving no surviving children to be heir to the throne. Queen Anne because of the numerous pregnancies was by all accounts a very unhealthy woman and suffered from rheumatism and being severely overweight later in her life. The latter part of her reign was dominated by the War of the Spanish Succession and attempts at negotiations with her Stuart relatives in France in the hopes of their conversion to Protestantism with the aim at a continuation of the Stuart dynasty. All the negotiations with James VIII(III) The Old Pretender came to naught and with the death of Anne in 1714 the succession passed to George of Hannover, a descendant of James VI through his daughter Elizabeth. Numismatically this reign is quite significant in Scottish history, for it saw the demise of a uniquely Scottish coinage and the introduction of the British coinage in 1707-1709. The 5 and 10 Shillings coins were only struck in 1705 and 1706, the 1706 examples are scarcer. With the Act of Union all previously issued Scottish coins in silver were recalled and melted and paid out in newly minted sterling coinage bearing the E mintmark of the Edinburgh mint. Curiously previously issued copper coinages from Scotland were not recalled and exchanged for new sterling denominated coinages, but actually continued to circulate until the 1760-1770's as halfpennies and farthings. For this reason late 17t century copper coins from Scotland are difficult to find in collectable condition since they saw a long hard circulation. The Act of Union affected that the Edinburgh mint would operate in perpetuity, but in reality the Edinburgh mint only operated from 1707-1709 after which coinage was only struck in London. Curiously the mint continued to exist as an entity until the Napoleonic wars, even drawing salaries for officials etc, but being an entity only and producing no coinage. Denominations used during this reign:Silver 1705 to 1707:10 Shillings1705-1706, the 1706 is scarcer.5 Shillings1705-1706, the 1706 is scarcer.Silver after the Act of Union in Sterling:
This is a 1707 crown minted in Edinburgh during the great recoinage of that year. All older Scottish silver coinage was called in during this time, melted down and re-minted into coins corresponding with those circulating in England at the time. The ratio of Scots : English coins was maintained at 12:1, so what had been a sixty shilling coin or 60/- in old tenor became a five shilling coin better known as a crown. This particular piece was a fascinating acquisition for myself, I bought it locally and liberated it from one of those infernal American "slabs" where it had been overgraded and entombed in plastic. Anne is happy to be free once more. Crown or 5/- or 60d1707,1708Half or 2/6 or 30d1707,1708
A shilling from 1707. History has overlooked this rather plain looking monarch, which is quite unfortunate because in essence she was one of Great Britain's more involved monarchs in terms of betterment of the populace, she was very involved in charitable projects and genuinely loved the British people. Shilling or 1/- or 12d1707,1708,1709 there are three different bust varietiesSixpence or 6d1708, there are two different bust varieties. |
Page last updated on 5th August 2011 Года All pages and images copyright © David Parrish 1999 - 2011 Года
