Dr. Smith on the Irish Coins of Henry the Seventh. 65 



That the letter h was placed under the crowns as a distinctive mark, is very 

 probable, but there is not any evidence whatever to support the appropriation of 

 these coins to Henry the Sixth, who died eight years previous to the introduction 

 of the three crown type into the Irish coinage.* 



Simon's conjecture that these coins " were probably intended for three penny 

 and three-halfpenny pieces, "f appears to have been grounded on Sir James 

 Ware's statement, that, in 1478, liberty was granted to the master of the mint 

 to coin " pieces of three pence, two pence, and a penny,"| that is, in the propor- 

 tion of 3, 2, and 1, while the weights of the coins are as 4, 2, and 1, or groats, 

 half-groats, and pennies, as they are denominated in 1 Ric. III. cap. 8, in which 

 the type is particul^ly described.§ 



The appropriation of these coins to Henry the Sixth, was not questioned 

 until Mr. Lindsay, in his " View of the Coinage of Ireland," transferred them 

 to Henry the Seventh, and that they were struck early in his reign is probable, 

 — from the style of workmanship and correspondence in weight between them 

 and the coins of Edward the Fourth and Richard the Third of the same type, — 

 from the fact of one of Edward's dies having been used for the obverse of the 

 half-groat, fig. 21, — at i the appointment in the first year of Henry the Seventh 

 of a master of the coina ^e in the cities of Dublin and "Waterford. 



This is the most coi, venient place to notice a small coin, whose type is very 

 different from any othei' known coin of any of the Henrys. The mint mark is 

 a cross pierced in the centre, and the legend HE-nri-cvs dns hib, the words se- 

 parated by small crosses ; reverse, a plain cross with a rose on its centre, civit is 

 all that remains of the legend, it weighs five grains. — (Fig. 23.) 



This coin is much defaced, but from the size of the circle and its weight, it 

 appears to have been Intended for a penny ; it is difficult to assign it to any par- 

 ticular date, the rose proves that it was not struck previous to the time of Edward 

 the Fourth, and as Richard the Third coined pennies with a rose on the reverse, || 

 and three crown groats, it is not unlikely that his successor coined money of 

 different types. The rose pennies of Edward and Richard have suns and roses 



* Ware's Antiq. by Harris, p. 215. f Page 22. 



% Ibid. p. 215. § Simon, Appendix, No. XVIII. 



II Snelling's Suppl. to Simon, PI. I. fig. 27. 



VOL. XIX. » 



