233 



granted to authorize the coinage of groats, half-groats, pennies, 

 halfpennies, and farthings at the York mint. ^ 



In the first coinage of King Edward VI. which was of the 

 same low standard as that of the latter years of his father,^ the 

 York mint does not appear to have heen in operation, but in 

 the second year of Edward's reign contracts^ for coining were 

 entered into with the mint-masters of York, Southwark,^ and 

 Canterbury, and an attempt was then made to effect an im- 

 provement of the standard.^ The office of York mint-master 

 was at that time held by George Gale, an eminent goldsmith 

 and citizen of York,^ who had been under-treasurer of the mint 

 in the reign of Henry VIII. No York specimens of this coin- 

 age, are described. Mr. Ruding mentions a shilling bearing 

 the date 1549, and the letters C (^ in a monogram, which he 

 thinks are indicative of the York mint, but in this attribution 

 he is obviously mistaken. '^ 



In the year 1551, the coinage of money of a proper standard 

 was at length accomplished ; and from the London mint, crowns, 

 half-crowns, shillings, sixpences, and threepences, were issued 

 of the sterling value. In the York mint, sixpences and three- 

 pences were coined of the proper degree of fineness, but the 

 smaller coin, — pennies, halfpennies, and farthings, — were 

 fabricated of base metal in obedience to a specific order of the 

 government to that effect. This singular fact is recorded by 



» Euding, Vol. II., p. 232. 



3 Hawkins, p. 138. 3 Lowndes, p. 45, Euding, Vol. I., p. 313. 



* Sir John Yorke was tte Southwark mint-master, and the coins issued from that 

 mint, are distinguished by his initial Y preceding the king's name on the obverse, 

 and the legend on the reverse. This mint mark has occasioned Leake to assign, 

 incorrectly, several of the gold and silver coins of this reign to the York mint. 

 Mr. Drake also has fallen into the same error. Eborac. Appx. pp. cviii. cix. 



* Hawkins, p. 140. 



* George Gale was Sheriff of York in 1530, and Lord Mayor in 1534 and 1549. 

 Ho was the ancestor of Dr. Thomas Gale, Dean of York, father of Eoger Gale 

 and Samuel Gale, the eminent antiquaries. One of the mint-master's daughters 

 married Sir Thomas Fairfax, father of the first Lord Fairfax of Dcntdb, whose son 

 and grandson were the distinguished parliamentary generals. 



' Ruding, Vol. II., p. 315. PL 9, No. 10. Hawkins, p. 141. 



