Irish & Scottish

Medieval Irish & Scottish coins for sale.

Throughout history, England , Ireland and Scotland operated as kingdoms, until in 1707 the three were united to form Great Britain, though Southern Ireland became a free state in 1920.
The silver penny formed the basis of the early currencies from the Saxon and Viking period. Kingdoms were lost and annexed throughout history, giving rise to both similarities and differences compared to the english coinage, thus many unique types were issued specific to both Ireland and Scotland.
Scotland’s coinage began with the capture of the mint & silver mines at Carlisle during the reign of David I (1124-1153AD), the extremely rare first coin issued under a Scottish king copies the type XV penny of Henry I of England, possibly using the same, albeit altered dies. Early coins of Scotland vary from extremely rare to rare and it was only with the introduction of the Phase B coinage under William The Lion (circa 1205AD) that Scottish coinage really took off.
As with contemporary coinage of the English series the early Scottish coins were generally not well struck and are extremely rare so collectors should look for type examples rather than high grade coins if collecting coins from this interesting period.

In Ireland coinage began with an extensive series of Hiberno-Norse coins, some of which are affordable and most copy English/Scandinavian types. After this period came the exceedingly rare halfpenny of Prince John (circa 1185AD) and Ireland quickly established a comprehensive coinage under king John in the early 13th Century.