26 
COINS. 
of the first Lord Fairfax, of Denton, whose son and grandson were 
the distinguished parliamentary generals. 
The York mint coined sixpences and threepences of the proper 
standard, the mint marks being a pierced mullet and spur rowell, 
the latter of which is rare. The pennies and halfpennies were made 
of base metal in obedience to a specific order of the Government. 
On September 24th, 1551, the King in his journal notices the 
order of council, “ in the city of York and Canterbury should the 
small money be wrought of a baser state.” This order was re¬ 
voked in March 1552, and on April 9th the officers of the York mint 
replied to the Lords of the Privy Council, stating “ that they had 
stayed the base standard of all small money.” “Notwithstanding,’' 
the mint master adds, “ I am charged at this present to the King’s 
subjects for money received into the office to the sum of vi c pounds 
and better, and how or what order shall be taken for the discharge 
of the same. I most humbly beseech your good lordships to know 
your further pleasure ; and there lieth in the base standard afore¬ 
said in ingot, plate, and cicell, a certain quantity ; and we have 
coined of the said standard of small moneys vm c pounds, whereof 
it is almost dispatched unto the subjects according to the order 
taken by an indenture for the same, so that the rest that remaineth 
of the small monies will not be able to bring forth the other fine 
monies according to the order taken, which ought to be given to 
the King’s Majesty's subjects, wherefore we most humbly beseech 
you to consider the same. 1 George Gale, John Winde, and 
Richard Lee.” 
The penny has on the obverse, in place of the King's head, a 
full blown rose and Latin inscription rendered, “a rose without a 
thorn.” 
After the death of Edward VI. the practice of coining in the 
provincial mints entirely ceased, except for a short period during 
the troublous times of King Charles I., and again for the great 
re-coinage in the reign of William III. 
Elizabeth, on September 27th, 1560, issued a proclamation by 
which the base coins of her predecessors were reduced to their 
real value, namely : the penny to fd., the twopence to i^d., and 
the testoon or sixpence to 4^d., except those testoons bearing either 
a lion or rose or harp or fleur-de-luce, which were so bad that they 
were reduced in value to 2^d. Much difficulty having arisen from 
1 Davies, p. 44. 
