Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXI 24-25 Mar 2021
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Great Britain, Stuart. Anne AV 5 Guineas. 1706. ANNA • DEI GRATIA •, draped bust to left, hair tied in fillet / MAG • BRI • FR • ET • HIB • REG, crowned cruciform shields, bearing arms of England, Scotland, Ireland and France around central Garter star with sceptres bearing national emblems in angles, divided date above. Edge inscription: DECVS ET TVTAMEN ANNO REGNI QVINTO. SCBC 3566; KM 521.
NGC graded UNC Details, Obverse Cleaned (#4769091-001).
Ex Numisor SA, Auction 3, 17 October 2020, lot 342.
This beautiful coin represents a momentous occasion in British history; the Union of Scotland and England, which was a defining point in the relationship of these two countries. Sometimes peaceful, sometimes provocative, its tensions still carry on to this day. Although Scotland and England had been ruled by the same monarch since the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, they had continued to exist as separate nations; each with their own parliament, laws, customs and church. The prospect of combining the two counties to form one new entity had been raised several times in the intervening century, but had never succeeded.
During this time, England had grown increasingly wealthy due to the trade it commanded from its colonies, especially via North America. It even passed acts which banned people in the colonies from exporting goods to anywhere else, although Scottish merchants found their own ways around this (Allan McInnes et al, 'Scottish circumvention of the English Navigation Acts' in JV Sigurðsson, Making, Using and Resisting the Law in European History (2010).
Scotland had attempted to imitate England's wealth by founding their own colony, in modern-day Panama. By establishing themselves at the juncture between the Pacific and the Atlantic, investors in the scheme hoped to profit from controlling one of the most important trading routes in the world. This scheme attracted 20% of all money circulating in Scotland; it's failure in 1700 was therefore catastrophic for both the Scottish crown and nobility. At the same time, Scotland had also suffered from a series of famines which had killed up to 15% of its population (Christopher Watley and Derek Patrick, The Scots and the Union (2006), p. 143).
Meanwhile, England had become increasingly concerned about conflict with the French, who were their main colonial rivals and had been providing financial and military aid to the Jacobites in Scotland, who wanted to overthrow the current monarch in favour of the original Stuart line. The question of the succession had become increasingly heated in both countries, as Queen Anne had no living children, and her closest (non-Catholic) relations were German.
England therefore wished to control Scotland to ensure it would not disturb its economic or military security, which Union would provide. After a series of tit-for-tat acts being passed in the respective parliaments, over the succession and independence of the Scottish church, England forced Scotland back to the negotiating table by imposing drastic economic sanctions.
The Scottish government and nobility, for their part, were personally incentivised by English promises of money which would compensate their losses in the Darien scheme, as well as offers of peerages. More widely, Scotland would benefit from trade access to England colonies. However, there was widespread public resistance to Union, even as political opposition was divided; even ardent Unionists admitted that the Act was 'contrary to the inclinations of at least three-fourths of the Kingdom' (John Clerk, Observations on the Present Circumstances of Scotland (1730), in Scott, The Union of 1707, p. 82). The English parliament passed their Act of Union in the final months of 1706, which this coin was minted to celebrate. Their Scottish counterparts passed their Act in early 1707. As the act was ratified, martial law was declared in Edinburgh over threats of unrest, and the bells of St Giles' Cathedral rang out the tune of 'Why should I be so sad on my wedding day?' (1st May 1707, Mar and Kellie papers, GD124/15/549/2, National Records of Scotland).
NGC graded UNC Details, Obverse Cleaned (#4769091-001).
Ex Numisor SA, Auction 3, 17 October 2020, lot 342.
This beautiful coin represents a momentous occasion in British history; the Union of Scotland and England, which was a defining point in the relationship of these two countries. Sometimes peaceful, sometimes provocative, its tensions still carry on to this day. Although Scotland and England had been ruled by the same monarch since the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, they had continued to exist as separate nations; each with their own parliament, laws, customs and church. The prospect of combining the two counties to form one new entity had been raised several times in the intervening century, but had never succeeded.
During this time, England had grown increasingly wealthy due to the trade it commanded from its colonies, especially via North America. It even passed acts which banned people in the colonies from exporting goods to anywhere else, although Scottish merchants found their own ways around this (Allan McInnes et al, 'Scottish circumvention of the English Navigation Acts' in JV Sigurðsson, Making, Using and Resisting the Law in European History (2010).
Scotland had attempted to imitate England's wealth by founding their own colony, in modern-day Panama. By establishing themselves at the juncture between the Pacific and the Atlantic, investors in the scheme hoped to profit from controlling one of the most important trading routes in the world. This scheme attracted 20% of all money circulating in Scotland; it's failure in 1700 was therefore catastrophic for both the Scottish crown and nobility. At the same time, Scotland had also suffered from a series of famines which had killed up to 15% of its population (Christopher Watley and Derek Patrick, The Scots and the Union (2006), p. 143).
Meanwhile, England had become increasingly concerned about conflict with the French, who were their main colonial rivals and had been providing financial and military aid to the Jacobites in Scotland, who wanted to overthrow the current monarch in favour of the original Stuart line. The question of the succession had become increasingly heated in both countries, as Queen Anne had no living children, and her closest (non-Catholic) relations were German.
England therefore wished to control Scotland to ensure it would not disturb its economic or military security, which Union would provide. After a series of tit-for-tat acts being passed in the respective parliaments, over the succession and independence of the Scottish church, England forced Scotland back to the negotiating table by imposing drastic economic sanctions.
The Scottish government and nobility, for their part, were personally incentivised by English promises of money which would compensate their losses in the Darien scheme, as well as offers of peerages. More widely, Scotland would benefit from trade access to England colonies. However, there was widespread public resistance to Union, even as political opposition was divided; even ardent Unionists admitted that the Act was 'contrary to the inclinations of at least three-fourths of the Kingdom' (John Clerk, Observations on the Present Circumstances of Scotland (1730), in Scott, The Union of 1707, p. 82). The English parliament passed their Act of Union in the final months of 1706, which this coin was minted to celebrate. Their Scottish counterparts passed their Act in early 1707. As the act was ratified, martial law was declared in Edinburgh over threats of unrest, and the bells of St Giles' Cathedral rang out the tune of 'Why should I be so sad on my wedding day?' (1st May 1707, Mar and Kellie papers, GD124/15/549/2, National Records of Scotland).