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A COUNTER, TEMP. EDWARD III. 



By the Rev. J. C. Fowler, b.a.,f.g.s. 



The coin of which we give illustrations was found some years 

 ago in the inner moat of Whorlton Castle, it was dug up and 

 came into my possession at the time. I have now had a 

 couple of blocks made so as to reproduce it for our Proceedings. 

 It is in very fine preservation — not a current coin of the 

 realm, but a Counter used by the King's Chamberlains for 

 counting the expenses of his privy purse. I showed it to 

 the officials of the coin department at the British Museum ; 

 the late Sir John Evans happened to be present, and he 

 was most interested in the coin, which he greatly admired ; 

 it was made after the coins of France of the period. As a 

 matter of course, a duplicate coin was produced, but it was as 

 thick as a florin, and my coin is quite thin like Elizabethan 

 coins. On the '"Obverse" the coin has a shield in the centre 

 charged with three keys — indicating the chamberlain's office, 

 on a bend surrounded with crowns and lions ; and round the 

 whole EDWARDUS REX REGNAT. crowns also being 

 interspersed between the words. On the ■■Reverse'' there is 

 an arrangement of ' ' Fleurs-de-lys ' ' at the four extremities 

 of a cross with equal arms in a kind of square with four more 

 " Fleurs-de-lys " in the angles, and round the whole the 

 words GARDE ROBE REGIS, the words being separated 

 by crowns as on the " Obverse." " Garde-robe " meaning 

 wardrobe or private apartments of the king. 



Coins are still used as counters by old fashioned people at 

 whist, and Shakespeare's " As you like it," ii, 7., says 

 ' ' what for a counter, would I do but good ? ' ' 



