12 Dr. Smith on the Irish Coins of Edward the Fourth. 



except such as the coins themselves afford, and according to the arrangement I 

 have adopted, they must be placed in this division of the second section. 



The groat has, on the obverse, a large rose of five leaves, with a small cross 

 in its centre ; there is a pellet in each angle, outside the double tressure of five 

 arches, vphich surrounds the rose, all within a circle of pellets ; mint mark, a 

 cross ; legend, edwardvs dei gra dns hyber.* Reverse, a sun of sixteen 

 rays, having a large annulet in its centre ; mint mark, a rose ; in the outer circle, 

 posvi, &c. ; in the inner circle, civitas dublinie. Apiece of the coin is broken 

 ofP, and it weighs only twenty-seven grains. — (PL I. fig. 22.) 



The penny resembles the groat, and has not the tressure round the rose : the 

 legend, as collected from the only two specimens which have come under my 

 observation, is edwar dns hyber. Reverse, a sun of sixteen rays, like the 



groat ; legend, civitas dv "Weight, eight grains and a half. — (PI. I. 



fig. 23.) 



1465. — In the fifth year of this reign, at a parliament held at Trim, an Act 

 was passed, the roll of which is lost ; but a part of it, relating to the rise of the 

 value of the gold noble, from eight shillings and four pence to ten shillings, is 

 recited in the Act of the seventh year of this reign.f 



Mr. Lindsay supposes that these coins were made in pursuance of the Act of 

 1465, an opinion which, in my mind, is strongly corroborated by the evidence 

 furnished by the coins themselves. 



The legend on the groat corresponds with that of 1463 ; and it is evident 

 these coins must have been minted subsequent to that date, at which time the 

 king's name was introduced on his Irish coins ; and the absence of the king's 

 head proves that they were minted previous to the year 1467, for in that year a 

 new type, bearing the king's head, was ordered to be made. The rose on the 

 obverse, and the sun on the reverse, also indicate for these coins a place in the 

 series, between the years 1463 and 1467- In the latter year the king's head was 

 substituted for the rose, and the sun was retained, having in its centre a small 

 rose, instead of an annulet, as in the coins under consideration. 



* The Inscription on this coin is somewhat defaced ; I have made up the deficiency by reference 



to Snelling's engraving, which has a small rose instead of an annulet in the centre of the sun 



Snelling's Supplement to Simon, PI. I. fig. 19. 



f Simon, Appendix, No. IX. 



