58 Dr. Smith on the Irish Coins of Henry the Seventh. 



accurately represented, as having a tressure of twelve arches round the crown, 

 which is very shallow, and a trefoil at each point of the tressure, I assign it to 

 Henry the Sixth. It is much to be regretted that this coin cannot now be found 

 in the numerous and extensive collections to which I have had access ; but that 

 such a piece was in Simon's possession can hardly be doubted, as the penny sub- 

 sequently published by Snelling in his supplement (PI. I. fig. 16) agrees with it 

 in the number of arches in the tressure, and in the form of the crown, and such a 

 coincidence can hardly be attributed to a mistake of the artist ; this penny I also 

 appropriate to Henry the Sixth. 



I am aware that a distinguished collector in England does not believe that a 

 groat with twelve arches in the tressure ever was in existence, on the grounds 

 that no such piece is at present known ; but a short time since, the same argu- 

 ment might have been applied to a coin of James the Second,* as no specimen 

 of it was then known ; two however have been lately discovered ; one in pewter, 

 which was found in a sewer in Dublin, is in the cabinet of the late Dean of St. 

 Patrick's, and another in brass, in a good state of preservation, is in the possession 

 of the author. 



I shall now proceed to the investigation of the coins, which I conceive be- 

 long to Henry the Seventh, a task which I enter on with much diffidence, as it 

 presents difficulties at almost every step of the inquiry. 



There are many coins which may, without any doubt, be appropriated to 

 Henry the Seventh, although very few documents relating to his Irish coins have 

 been discovered, nor is it likely that any others have been preserved, from which 

 direct evidence can be obtained. 



The almost total absence of records connected with the coinage of this reign, 

 is the more remarkable, as the greater part of the numerous Acts, relating to 

 money coined during the reigns of Henry's immediate predecessors, Edward the 

 Fourth, and Richard the Third, are still preserved among the State Papers in 

 Ireland. 



Ruding, on the authority of Snelling, states, that in the first year of Henry 

 the Seventh " Robert Bowley" was " Malster of the Cunage and Mynt within 

 the Cities of Dyvelln (Dublin) and Waterford."t 



• Simon, PI. VIII. fig. 177. f Annals, vol. i. p. 90. 



