70 Dr. Smith on the Irish Coins of Heny the Seventh. 



and this conjecture is supported by the very close resemblance between the 

 English and Irish coins, in type and workmanship. 



The half-groat, notwithstanding all its peculiarities, appears to be contem- 

 porary with the groats. 



Mr. Lindsay supposes the Waterford groat (fig. 31) to have been struck by 

 Henry the Sixth " after his restoration in 1470." The legend of the coin, how- 

 ever, is not in favour of this appropriation, and the form of the letters have some 

 resemblance to those on the coins which I conceive were struck while Flint was 

 master of the mints of Dublin and Waterford. This coin is remarkable for 

 having the hair on the king's forehead. 



I also consider fig. 32 to be the work of an English artist, it resembles some 

 of the arched-crown groats in almost every particular except the crown, and even 

 in this there is some resemblance, for if the cross was resting on a ball, the 

 arches of the tressure might readily be taken for those of the crown. 



THE THIRD SECTION. 



All the coins in this section (with one exception) have the king's head on 

 the obverse, and a cross fourchee with three pellets in each quarter, on the re- 

 verse. They may be divided into two classes ; first, those having a double-arched 

 crown ; second, those with an open crown. 



The coins in the first class have the arched crown, surmounted by a ball and 

 cross ; the arches are usually formed of pellets, but in some specimens they are 

 plain lines ; the number of arches in the tressure round the head varies, and there 

 are generally three pellets at each point of the tressure, some have annulets 

 within the tressure, and also between the words of the legend ; the hair is always 

 in long hanging curls, resembling in this respect the English groats of Henry. 

 All the specimens which I have seen have the letter h* in the centre of the re- 

 verse, they are rudely executed and the legends are more or less defective ; they 

 appear to have been clipped, and weigh from twenty-six to twenty-eight grains. 



* A boar's head is very neatly represented as occupying the centre of the reverse of a groat, 

 pubhshed by Simon, PI. V. fig. 99. In this instance, I suspect that he mistook the h for a boar's 

 head, and the engraving seems to represent the coin in greater perfection than the original ; my sus- 

 picion is supported, if not confirmed, by his ovf n description ; he says, " the last of these (arched- 

 crown groats) has on the reverse, in the centre of the cross, a boar's head, mint mark ; and though 

 much clipped and worn, they weigh from twenty -seven, to thirty-one grains.'' — p. 32. 



