Dr. Smith on the Irish Coins of Edward the Fourth. 7 



No half groats of the type under consideration have been discovered. Simon 

 has pubUshed a coin, (PI. IV. fig. 71?) which the Rev. Mr. Butler has referred 

 to as a half groat of Henry the Sixth.* This coin is similar to the second kind 

 of the groat which I have described ; it is somewhat smaller, which has probably 

 led to the supposition of its being a half groat ; but its weight is thirty-seven 

 grains, whereas the half groat should weigh only twenty-two grains and a half. 

 I may also observe, that the diameter of the circle on the reverse corresponds 

 exactly with that of the groats, which I have occasionally found very deficient in 

 weight. 



I think it is very probable that half groats of this type were never struck, 

 notwithstanding they are mentioned in the letters patent, for the half groat was 

 not ordered to be made by the statute of Henry the Sixth, according " to the 

 tenor and effect" of which statute, Lynch was authorized to make coins. This 

 opinion is supported by the fact of the half groat not appearing in either of the 

 subsequent coinages, or previous to the year 1467. 



There are pennies corresponding with the groats of the first and second kinds, 

 (PI. I. figs. 2, 4.) There is another which has only eight arches in the tressure ; 

 this may, possibly, be a penny of 1462 ; the form of the crown differs a little 

 from the others, but it has not either the suns or roses outside the tressure. — 

 (PI. I. fig. 6.) The remarkable penny without the tressure, (PI. I. fig. 8,) is, 

 I believe, unique ; I do not know of any groat similar to it. The same remark 

 is applicable to the penny having a circle of small pellets instead of the tressure 

 round the crown.f These pennies weigh from nine to twelve grains. 



Mr. Lindsay remarks, that " the pennies of this coinage, do not appear to 

 present any mode of distinguishing them from those of Henry the Sixth. "| But 

 if I am correct in my appropriation of the groats, the pennies I have noticed, all 

 certainly belong to Edward the Fourth. 



There are no coins of this type from any mint, except Dublin ; and I am 

 inclined to think that none were struck at Trim or Galway, for in the enactments 

 of the first and second years of this reign, halfpence and farthings were ordered 

 to be made in the Castle of Dublin only. The earliest coin known from the 



* Numismatic Journal, vol. ii. p. 73. f Editor's additional plate to Simon, fig. 15. 



+ View of the Coinage of Ireland, page 40. 



