The earliest identified coin minted in Scotland has been acquired by the Nationwide Museums Scotland. The silver penny of King David I (r. 1124-1153) was struck within the second half of the 1130s in Edinburgh and is now heading house.
It was found in 2023 by a metallic detectorist within the woods close to Penicuik, Midlothian. They reported it to Scotland’s Treasure Trove and after it was decided to be official Treasure, it was allotted to the NMS who paid its assessed worth of £15,000 ($22,000) as a reward to the finder.
The silver penny options the topped bust of David I holding a scepter on the obverse. The reverse has a cross design within the middle and an inscription across the border that reads “+E(A?)BALD:E[…]ONESBVRG” The “ESBVRG” is the mint mark, figuring out it as having been struck in Edinburgh.
Earlier than this coin was found, the earliest Scottish cash identified have been struck after David I invaded northern England in December 1135 and occupied Carlisle, utilizing its royal mint to strike his personal cash. Earlier to this, Scotland’s foreign money was not domestically produced. Cash circulating in Scotland have been minted in different nations by different powers.
Dr Blackwell mentioned: “What makes this actually important is that till we discovered this, we thought all of David’s first coinage was produced in Carlisle as a result of there are just about no documentary sources that specify how coinage was produced, the place, when, why issues modified, why the designs modified, any of that.
“There’s very, little or no documentary sources for that for Scotland. So the cash themselves are the first supply.
“That is the primary time that we are able to see this very early minting of coinage in Edinburgh .”
