A little history. Jumping ahead to a coin I have, it is a Sommer Island 6-Pence. It is the small portholes variety, minted in 1616. It was found in the sands on the beaches of Bermuda, also called the Sommer Islands centuries ago. It was almost certainly found after the invention of the metal detector. Prior to the metal detector less than 40 examples were known. I do not know how many varieties of Sommer Island coins, 2-Pence, 3-Pence, 6-Pence and one shilling are known today. Some have values exceeding 50k, 100k. I can assure you I do not have one of those pieces. I think it is safe to say that less than 100 of these coins have been found. I used to collect coins to complete sets, all the Lincoln Pennies, Washington Quarters, now I collect coins that I feel have historical significance. I have fewer coins but the stories behind them are fascinating to me. The downside to this strategy is the availability and price of those coins.

  The obverse shows a hog with the denomination in roman numerals above the animal and the legend "SOMMER ISLANDS" within two circles of beads (the two and three pence coins have only a single circle of beads and lack the legend). Above the hog you will note the “VI”, Roman numerals for “6”. (The first photo is the reverse followed by the obverse)

 The reverse depicted a ship, probably the Sea Venture, with a single circle of beads around the border and no legend (the two and three pence denominations have an S to the left of the ship and a “I” to the right for Sommer Islands). In my coin the ship has been rotated. From the few well-preserved examples, we do know there are shilling varieties with either large or small sails and sixpence varieties with either large or small portholes.

  These coins were minted in England to support a small colony on Bermuda, formed in 1609. Members of the colony were typically sailors, usually from wrecked ships, including the Sea Adventurer, wrecked in 1609. The condition of my coin is poor, as you might expect for a coin buried in the salty beach sands for 350+ years. P.C.G.S. graded the coin as large Portholes and noted the coin as having details, just in case that was not obvious. It has since been graded by N.C.G. as small portholes, also my feeling.

 There is one AU coin known, photos are in a light brown. The metal is a base metal, lightly silvered, having almost no value. Prior to these coins tobacco and Spanish silver were used as a currency.

 The Bermuda Islands were named after Juan de Bermúdez, who first discovered the islands in 1505. Juan was a Spanish Captain / navigator on a ship returning to Spain from Hispaniola. In 1532, while on his way to Cuba, Bermúdez was shipwrecked near these islands and because of his knowledge of the area, he was able to safely make it to shore. Apparently on this second voyage he had several live hogs as cargo, some of whom were saved and overtime, proliferated throughout the islands.

  The Bermuda Islands served as a “way” point for Spanish treasure fleets, returning to Spain, with treasures plundered from central and South America. In 1563 five ships from one Spanish treasure fleet returning to Spain from central America, sank off the coast of Bermuda with 1,250 fatalities. Reported to be carrying 22,000 pounds of gold, more than one billion dollars in today’s money. In perspective, less than 500 pounds of gold have been recovered from the Atocha.

  The reefs surrounding the islands are treacherous, making a purposeful entry to harbor all but impossible in that era. The screeching cahow birds would have sounded to superstitious sailors like wailing demons. They called the place the “Isle of Devils”.

 In 1609, an English supply ship, the Sea Adventurer, left Plymouth, England, with eight other ships to head for the Jamestown colony in the Virginia plantation. On July 25th, as they neared their destination, the Sea Adventurer was separated from the small fleet by a hurricane and three days later ended up in the Bermuda Islands, which were then known as the Bermoothes or the Hogge Islands. These sailors joined the colony. Bermoothes is a word to describe tempests and enchantments.

  Sir Thomas Gates, who was on the Sea Adventure, wrote a letter that described the Sea Adventurer shipwreck, describing the hurricane as “a most dreadful Tempest”. This story has been acknowledged as potentially one source for Shakespeare’s book, “The Tempest” written in 1611, first performed in Nov. 1611.

 One theory is, Shakespeare wrote the “The Tempest” based on an island inhabited by devils and witches, the Bermoothes. In the first act Shakespeare uses the term “still-vexe’d Bermoothes” which means a ship hidden in a bay in the Bermoothes (Bermuda). Is there a connection to the wreck.

  Before the 1960's few Hogge coins were known to have survived. However, with the widespread use of metal detectors in the past few decades, about fifty additional examples of Hogge coins have been uncovered in Bermuda, but most are in very poor condition.

Im trying to identify the class and the letters on the cross side of the coin if anyone can help?

Found in eastern Scotland.