22 



coyne shall havegraven within the circumference of the said 

 cross, the name of the place where it was made ; and on the 

 other part suns and roses in the circumference of the said 

 croivne'* 



" It is to be regretted, that this little coin, the only one of 

 the kind which has been found, is not in better preservation ; 

 but such as it is, it corresponds in every particular with the 

 description in the Act ; and, therefore, we do not hesitate to 

 assert that it is one of the farthings of mixed metal ordered 

 to be made in 1462. 



" It may be objected, that this coin has crosses instead of 

 suns round the crown, and it would be difficult indeed to give 

 a more accurate symbol of the sun, in so many places, within 

 so limited a space; but we should recollect, that similar 

 crosses occur on some of the silver groats of Edward IV., 

 coined in Dublin, in the beginning of his reign. On these 

 groats, immediately over the crown, on the obverse, are placed 

 three small crosses, which have usually been considered as 

 privy marks.f 



" Now taking for granted, that these crosses on the groats 

 were intended to represent suns, as they evidently were on 

 the farthing, we suspect we can account for them, not only 

 as privy marks, indicating that the coins on which they are 

 found belong to Edward IV., but also assign a probable rea- 

 son why three only should appear. 



" The sun was first introduced by Edward IV. upon the 

 coins, ' in commemoration of an extraordinary a^ipearance in 

 the heavens, immediately before the battle of Mortimer's 

 Cross, in Herefordshire, (in 1461,) where three stms were seen 

 which shone for a time, and then were suddenly conjoined 

 in one.'l 



" It matters little whether the extraordinary phenomenon 



» Simon's Essay on Irish Coins, Appendix, No. VII. 



f Simon, pi. 4, fig. 71. 



J Ruding's Annals of the Coinage, vol. ii. p. 359, 2nd Edition, 8vo. 



