70 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



XIV. — On two Finds of Silver Coins of Edward 1st and 2nd, 



OBTAINED IN IRELAND, AND ALSO SOME FOREIGN STERLINGS. By 



William Frazer, M. D. 



[Eead 12th. February, 1872.] 



A small parcel of about 100 silver pence of the First and Second 

 Edwards was lately found in Ireland. I was permitted to take a 

 list of these coins, but owing to the mischievous operation of the Trea- 

 sure Trove regulations, could obtain no reliable information about the 

 time or place of their discovery — nor, indeed, any clue further than the 

 statement that they were obtained all together, some short time before 

 I saw them. 



The lot consisted of thirty-four pennies of Edward I., in tolerable 

 condition, of the following places of mintage : — London, twenty-six ; 

 Canterbury, four ; St. Edmund's and Bristol, each one ; Durham (Bi- 

 shop Beak's mint), one ; and London (with rose on breast), one. 



Sixty-four pennies were of the types usually referred to Edward II. 

 Of those with the name ' ' edwa. , ' ' which were by far the most numerous, 

 thirty-seven were minted at London, nineteen at Canterbury, two at 

 Durham, one each at St. Edmund's, York, Berwick, and Newcastle. 

 There were, in addition, single coins, lettered " edwar" and " edward," 

 both from the London mint. 



Together with the above were found an Irish penny of Edward, 

 with three points or dots on the breast; and one of Henry III.'s late 

 mintage — " Henry on Cant" on the reverse. 



So far this collection presented little interest, being simply a small 

 collection of ordinary types of Edward I., and of early pence of Ed- 

 ward II. ; but there was, in addition, four sterlings that I wish to de- 

 scribe more particularly. 



Discoveries of foreign and counterfeit sterlings are not of frequent 

 occurrence in Ireland. They are a class of coin that closely resemble 

 in appearance the pennies of Edward I. and II. ; and Mr. Hawkins 

 calls attention to the fact, that they seem to have been issued by 

 princes directly or indirectly connected, either by marriage or politics, 

 with the Kings of England. Some, also, are likely to be pure forgeries, 

 intended to circulate with English money, of which one of the four 

 coins in this find is a good example. 



Mr. Hawkins, in the Numismatic Chronicle for 1850, published a 

 detailed account of ninety-two of these sterlings, found near Kircud- 

 bright, upon the property of the Earl of Selkirk, and has given full 

 descriptions of the coins themselves, and the histories of their princes. 

 With this lot was discovered a penny of Alexander III. of Scotland, a 

 London penny of Henry III., four pennies of Edward L, and a bar- 

 barous imitation of an Irish penny. 



Again, in 1855, Mr. Bergne exhibited to the London Numismatic 

 Society thirty-two similar sterlings for Mr. Sainthill, of Cork, 

 twenty-five of which had been bought by him a few years before from 



