Earliest coin minted in Scotland saved for the nation after 900 years | EUROtoday

The earliest identified coin to be minted in Scotland nearly 900 years in the past has been acquired for the nation after it was discovered by a metallic detectorist.

The medieval David I silver coin, found in a wooded space close to Penicuik, Midlothian in 2023, has been dated to the second half of the 1130s.

As required by legislation it was reported it to Treasure Trove and allotted to National Museums Scotland (NMS) by the Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel.

The coin was valued at £15,000, which was paid to the finder as a reward by the King’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer.

The NMS stated it might be used for analysis however it’s hoped it is going to go on show in future.

King David I of Scotland, who reigned from 1124 till 1153, launched the nation’s first coinage.

Alice Blackwell, senior curator of medieval archaeology and historical past, stated it was thought all his earliest cash had been created in a mint in Carlisle, Cumbria, which he took management of within the 1130s.

But she added: “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.

“It was minted in Edinburgh, so it is the primary time that we now have Scottish coinage being minted in what was a core a part of the Scottish kingdom.”

She said any coins found before the king’s reign could be Roman Age, Viking Age or medieval coinage.

David I later lost control of Carlisle.

The coin found in Midlothian has a portrait of the monarch’s head on one side and a cross-based design on the other.

It also bears an inscription which indicates it was minted in Edinburgh.

The discovery will help experts expand their understanding of how and where coins were minted in medieval times.

Dr Blackwell said there was virtually no documentary sources that explained how coinage was produced in Scotland.

She added: “The cash themselves are the first supply.

“This is the first time that we can see this very early minting of coinage in Edinburgh.”

The skilled added the primary Scottish cash had been fairly uncommon.

She additionally stated the invention of one other had the potential to extend understanding about how the primary coinage was produced and the way it started for use in Scotland.

Later within the reign of King David I, cash had been minted in locations together with Perth, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Aberdeen, St Andrews, and Roxburgh within the Scottish Borders.

As properly as introducing Scotland’s first coinage his reign included the inspiration of royal burghs equivalent to Perth, Dunfermline and Stirling, and the reorganisation of civil establishments.