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Auction: 25021 - The Simpson Collection of Hiberno-Norse and Irish Coinage
Lot: 143

Ireland, Elizabeth I (1558-1603), Third Coinage, Very Base Shilling, 2 February - 20 May 1601, Tower, ELIZAB[ETH . D '. G '. ] ANG ' . FR '. ET . HIBER '. R[], shield, rev. POSVI . DEVM . ADI[VT]OREM . MEV., crowned harp, 5.81g, 2h, m.m. trefoil (DF 252; S.6507) some softness of strike to peripheries, and with prominent old scratches in field to right of harp and a small split around 4 o'clock on obverse, but otherwise an exceptional specimen with main devices about as struck, near extremely fine, and surely amongst the finest extant

Provenance

The John Noel Simpson Collection of English, Irish and Hiberno-Norse Coins



The coinage represented by this remarkable specimen, struck at 25% fine, was introduced along with mandatory recoinage with a purpose of depriving the Ulster rebel alliance of Ua Néill and Ua Domhnaill of silver with which to purchase supplies from abroad. The coinage is an older type of gunmoney:
"Whereas there are certaine brasse ordinance that are broken and unserviceable in the Office of the Ordinance and there is presente occasion to use copper in the Minte, theis shalbe to require and aucthoryse you to deliver unto Mr. Thomas Knevett, Warden of the Minte, from tyme to tyme as neede shall require such peeces of great ordinance as are unserviceable". (Acts of the Privy Council of England Volume 31, 1600-1601, 161 (15 February 1601)).


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Sold for
£520

Starting price
£200