bawbee
Sign in to saveA bawbee was a Scottish sixpence. The word means a debased copper coin, valued at six pence Scots (equal at the time to an English half-penny), issued from the reign of James V of Scotland to the reign of William II of Scotland. They were hammered until 1677, when they were produced upon screw presses.
Wikidata facts
Show 1 more fact
- Commons category
- Bawbee
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Article
9 sectionsContents
- Issues
- Etymology
- Literary references
- Kirkmahoe
- Skipping rhyme
- See also
- Footnotes
- References
- External links
A bawbee was a Scottish sixpence. The word means a debased copper coin, valued at six pence Scots (equal at the time to an English half-penny), issued from the reign of James V of Scotland to the reign of William II of Scotland. They were hammered until 1677, when they were produced upon screw presses.
==Issues== The bawbee was introduced by James V in 1538, valued at sixpence. These carry his 'I5' monogram flanking a crowned thistle, and a large saltire on the reverse with a central crown. There were also a smaller half bawbee and a quarter bawbee. In 1544, James V's widow Mary of Guise minted bawbees at Stirling Castle, with an 'MR' cipher on the obverse and the cross potent with crosslets of Lorraine on the reverse. The first bawbees of Mary, Queen of Scots, issued by the mint at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh carried the cinquefoil emblems of the Regent Arran.