Dr. Smith on the Irish Coins of Edward the Fourth. 27 



on the other, the cross and pellets ; small strokes, or lines, appear to have been 

 substituted for the legends : it weighs three grains and a half. — (PI. IV. fig. 86.) 



This may possibly be a farthing, as at one period of this reign, the Lord 

 Lieutenant, or his Deputy, was empowered to allay the halfpence and farthings 

 according to his discretion,* a privilege very likely to be exercised to its utmost 

 extent. 



Of the seven cities and towns in which the coins described in this section 

 were minted, only four, viz. Drogheda, Dublin, Trim, and Waterford, are recog- 

 nized as legal mints in the Acts which have been preserved. 



I shall first dispose of the mints which were not legally qualified. The Cork 

 groats appear to have been made between the years 1470 and 1473, for the Act 

 of the year 1472 informs us of " there being divers coiners in the city of Cork, 

 and the towns of Youghal, Kinsale, and Kilmallock, who make false coins without 

 authority ;"f and in 1473, it was enacted that the coins should "be struck for the 

 time to come within the Castle of Dublin only, and in no other place in Ireland,"! 

 and by this Act the weight of the groat was reduced to about thirty-two grains ; 

 hence it is clear, that one at least of the Cork groats which weighs thirty-eight 

 grains was minted before 1473 ; and their blundered inscriptions, together with 

 the apparent impurity of the metal, plainly indicate that they were the work of 

 some fraudulent artist. 



Wexford, as a place of mintage, is not mentioned in any of the Acts of this 

 reign ; and the only coin which I have seen from this mint is very deficient in 

 weight, and bears evident proof of the fraudulent design of the person by whom 

 it was executed. I am unable to assign any particular date to this piece. 



The weight of the Limerick groats, which in no instance have I found to 

 exceed thirty-two grains, makes it probable that they were not minted previous 

 to the year 1473, at which period the standard weight of the groat was reduced 

 from forty-one to nearly thirty-two grains ; and as the privilege of making coins 

 was restricted to Dublin only from 1473 to 1475, it is likely that the coins of 

 this mint were issued during the latter year, for the Act of 1476 states, that 

 " the silver coin lately made in Cork, Youghal, Limerick, and other places in 



• Page 16. t Simon, Appendix, No. XII. 



X Simon, Appendix, No. XIII. 



d2 



