Pound Scots: a sterling branch

The Scottish pound is now placed using dated account evidence from 1560, 1604 and 1740. Those observations do not define its complete lifespan.

The direct sterling connection is a qualified inference from an initially equivalent account pound followed by regional differentiation. Its exact medieval origin remains open. The 1707 coinage union did not abolish all Scots accounting.

Read the Pound Scots history → · Inspect the claims and sources →

Sterling → Pound Scots · Qualified

The pound Scots is treated as a qualified regional branch of sterling reckoning: the Scottish National Dictionary identifies an account pound initially equal to sterling, and the National Records of Scotland describes subsequent divergence of the Scottish and English currencies through debasement. This is an inference of account differentiation, not an inference from shared names or an exchange rate alone. The fourteenth-to-sixteenth-century range describes the broad differentiation discussed by the sources, not an exact founding reform; earlier Scottish accounting and the immediate separation date remain unresolved.

National Records of Scotland · Scottish National Dictionary · David Fox, The Anglo-Scots monetary union of 1707 (2019)

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