One of first coins to be minted in Scotland during King David I reign sold at auction

One of the first coins to be minted in Scotland has sold at auction for more than £1,000.

The very rare penny was made some time after 1136, during the reign of King David I of Scotland. 

It shows a profile bust of the King holding a sceptre, and a cross with fleurs de lis on the reverse.

King David I was the first Scottish monarch to issue coins, following the capture of Carlisle in Northumbria, which gave him the city’s mint and nearby silver mines.

David I coins. Credit: Noonans.

The coin formed part of a haul of Scottish coins that had been amassed over the last 50 years by an anonymous collector. It sold at auctioneers Noonans Mayfair for £1,500 to a Scottish collector.

‘The David I penny sold at its top estimate of £1,500 to a Scottish collector and we are very pleased that it is going home during the 900th anniversary year of David I’s Coronation,’ said Jim Brown, coin specialist at Noonans.

Comprising 177 lots, the whole collection fetched £57,700.

The highest price of the collection was for an extremely rare coin from the reign of Robert the Bruce which sold to a UK collector for £2,600.

Robert the Bruce coin. Credit: Noonans.

From the reign of Robert II, a groat (silver coin worth four pence) that was minted in Dundee fetched a hammer price of £1,800. The Dundee mint opened in the 1380s and was only open for a few years.

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