1460 - 1488, JAMES III, AE Threepenny Penny struck c.1470 - 1480 at an unidentified mint, Scotland

Obverse: + IACOBVS ‡ DEI ‡ GRA ‡ REX ‡ . Orb with rosette at centre, tilted upwards, within pelleted circle. Cross hummetty in legend.
Reverse: + CRVX ‡ PELLIT ‡ OIE ‡ CRI (Crux pellit omne crimen = The cross drives away all sin). Latin cross within quatrefoil with trefoils on cusps, within pelleted circle. Cross hummetty in legend.
Diameter: 20mm | Weight: 1.9gms | Die Axis: 9h
SPINK: 5311 Type III
Very Rare

THREEPENNY PENNY "CROSSRAGUEL" ISSUES
These 'Crux pellit' coins are often known as "Crossraguel" issues, so called after a hoard containing 51 of them was found in a drain at Crossraguel Abbey, Ayrshire in 1919.
Once regarded as Ecclesiastical and connected to Bishop James Kennedy of St Andrews by earlier scholars, these coins are now, after extensive research in the second half of the twentieth century by J E L Murray of the British Numismatic Society, believed to have been a regal issue whose place of mintage has not as yet been certainly identified. During his reign James III took an interest in the coinage and introduced several new denominations. The thistle-head made its first appearance as a Scottish emblem on coins during his reign and a further innovation of his coinage were coins bearing a likeness of the king himself in the new renaissance style which predated similarly styled English coins by several years.
J E L Murray identified these coins with those referred to in contemporary documents as "three-penny pennies" or "Cochrane's Placks", which appear to have been greatly devalued in 1482. Cochrane's Placks comes from Robert Cochrane, one of James III's main favourites. Cochrane played a major part in the government during the 1470's and he is said to have advised the king to debase the coinage in order to raise cash.

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