Groat news! 2p coin set to raise a cool £1200 in auction

IT is a battered old coin which was originally worth only four old pennies - or close to 2p in modern money.

Five hundred years after it was created in the Capital, however, the rare groat is set to fetch up to 1200 at auction.

The silver groat was made at the Edinburgh Mint during the reign of King James IV of Scotland and it is thought to have lain in the ground undisturbed for around 500 years.

Experts say it was created around 15 years before the Battle of Flodden Field in Northumberland on September 9, 1513, when, at the age of just 40, James IV became the last British monarch to be killed in battle.

On one side of the coin is a rough carved image of James IV, recognisable from his flowing hair, while on the reverse is a Latin motto which cannot be made out due to the worn edges, and an inscription saying the coin was minted in the Capital.

It was made at the Edinburgh Mint sometime between June 14, 1488 and September 9, 1513 - about 60 years after Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, in 1431, and about 15 years after Caxton set up his printing press in 1476.

Exactly where and when the Edinburgh groat was unearthed is now a mystery, although experts at London auction house Spink say the coin's toning confirms that it had been in the ground and was probably once part of a hoard.

William Mackay, a coins specialist at Spink, said: "You can tell it has most likely been stored with other coins because it has not been worn away too badly, as it would have been if it was on its own and more exposed.

"We think this was made early in the reign of James IV, and the inscription on the back places it as being made in Edinburgh. The mint would have been a very secure building, probably linked to the government, and would most likely have been somewhere near Edinburgh Castle."

Spink say that it is "rare" and despite its age it is in what they call "good very fine" condition.

There was only one Scottish Mint during the reign of King James IV and that was in Edinburgh. After his reign, the only other Mint in Scotland was at Stirling, where bawbees, or halfpennies, were produced during the 25-year reign (1542-1567) of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Scots groats were not issued until the 1329-1371 reign of King David II and were originally worth four old pennies - about 2p - although later issues were valued at eightpence - 3p - and a shilling - 5p.

The James IV Edinburgh groat will be auctioned at Spink in Bloomsbury, London, on Wednesday, March 23.