Unpublished Transitional Penny

Sale: Triton XII, Lot: 1172. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Monday, 5 January 2009.  Sold For $675. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SCOTLAND. David II. 1329-1371. AR Penny (18mm, 1.31 g, 12h). First coinage, second issue, transitional phase. Edinburgh mint(?). Struck circa 1351-1357. +DAVID DЄI GRACIA, crowned head left; scepter to left, large lettering / [RЄX] SCTTORVm+, long cross; mullets in quarters, small lettering. Burns 2 var. (no cross in rev. legend); cf. SCBI 35 (Ash. & Hunt.), 349; cf. SCBC 5087/5088 var. (rev. legend). Good VF, toned. Rare legend variant.

Ex Marian A. Sinton Collection (Classical Numismatic Group 60, 22 May 2002), lot 2435.

This penny is interesting in two respects. First, it appears to be a transitional piece within the second issue, as the obverse is of the early phase with large lettering (SCBC 5087), while the reverse has the small lettering of the later phase (SCBC 5088). Secondly, the reverse has a very unusual legend, having the two-T version of the later phase, but omitting the ‘O’ and retaining a cross at the end of the legend. The appearance of the cross is only known on the early phase pennies with one ‘T’ in the reverse legend. The absence of the ‘O’ here was apparently to accommodate the cross. As such, it appears that this coin is a transitional type, with an obverse typical of the early phase pennies, with a reverse adopting the two-T legend of the late phase while retaining cross from the early phase.