UK 'Scottish' shillings, 1937 and 1947

[FosseWay]

I've had a look through the past threads on this board and it seems no-one's ever asked this before, which I find a tad surprising...

Why do George VI's 'Scottish' shillings (with lion rampant) from 1937 and 1947 have a dot after the 7 of the date, when there is no dot in any other year, or on the 'English' shillings of the same years? As far as I know they weren't struck anywhere different from the rest of the UK's coinage of those years (i.e. Tower Hill).

I remember wondering precisely this as a small child, when the shillings in question (well, the 1947 ones anyway) were still in daily use as five pence pieces. It's only taken me 30-odd years to get round to investigating.

[chrisild]

Just a guess - could it have something to do with the two shields below the two "halves" of the year? If you look at the English type dated 1937, the 1 and the 7 are more or less the continuations of the crown's "edges" (the 1 is even shorter than the 9). The Scottish type has the 1 and the 9 in roughly equal length - after all, they "sit" on the shield with the St. Andrew's Cross. On the very right you have the (somewhat artsy ) 7 which would make the thistle shield stand out to the right if the "gap" was not filled by a dot ...

(Then again, I am perfectly willing to believe that all this above is a bogus explanation. )

Christian

[andyg]

How bizarre!

The 1937 Edward VIII pattern pictured in Coincraft has the dot too - so I presume Krueger-Gray designed it like that....