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Auction: 25021 - The Simpson Collection of Hiberno-Norse and Irish Coinage
Lot: 168

Ireland, Great Rebellion, Issues of the Confederated Catholics, temp. Eoghan Ruadh Ua Néill "Rebel Money", Crown, July 1646, cross potent within concentric linear and beaded circles [also invisible on this specimen], six-rayed star or pellet between the circles above one of the arms [the outer circle invisible on this specimen], rev. large V [with S above], within concentric linear and beaded circles imitating Ormonde coinage, only a trace of the V remaining on this specimen of the reverse design, 21.92g (DF 313; S.6558), only mediocre to good at best, but extremely rare

Provenance

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

With ticket



The obverse of this coinage, traditionally called "Rebel Money", is the main motif of the battle flag of the Confederated Catholics, with its Royalist symbols removed. It is also an ancient symbol of Irish Christianity, as on the early Christian art of the Kilnasaggart stone in Armagh. The flag was described in 1643 by Fr. Luke Wadding as "the cross of Ireland, surrounded by a red circle on a green field". Contemporary evidence including this coinage as well as the ancient attestation of the symbol reconstruct the cross on the battle flag as a red cross potent.



The cataloguer attributes this coinage to Eoghan Ruadh Ua Néill (Owen Roe O'Neill) and the immediate aftermath of the battle of Benburb in Tyrone in July 1646, when he led the Army of Ulster on the unique occasion in the age of firearms that an Irish army defeated a regular British one on an open battlefield (Mac Conamhna, O'Neill Money: The Irish "Rebel Money" of the 1640s, the battle flag of the Confederated Catholics, and O'Ruadh Ua Néill, BNS blog 5 February 2025). Ua Néill received approximately £10,000 in silver from the papal nuncio Rinucinni less than two months before the battle and became the effective leader of the separatist Gaelic rump of the Confederation less than two months after, following Rinucinni's excommunication of the moderate landed majority of the Supreme Council for making peace with the Protestant Royalists on terms that he and Ua Néill thought unacceptable. Around this time or within a few months Ua Néill declared the Army of Ulster to be "the army of the Pope and the Church".



The six-pointed star of the coinage is reflected in the O'Neill arms, as used by Ua Néill on his personal seal. These factors coupled with Ua Néill's background, position, religious and political beliefs, motivations, opportunity, and benefit by doing so identify him with high confidence as the issuer of this coinage, to pay the Army of Ulster after Benburb, to commemorate his victory and to circulate an ancient symbol of Celtic Christianity in counterpoint to the crown of the Ormonde coinage. This lot is therefore offered as a specimen of the only, or at most one of two, coinage(s) of old Gaelic Ireland.



Metallurgical analysis indicates a silver content of 83% versus the sterling standard of Ormonde money and the earlier Confederated Catholic Halfcrowns. The weight of this specimen at 21.92 grams, also reveals it to be underweight, in relation to Ormonde Money and the Confederated Catholic Halfcrowns.

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Sold for
£700

Starting price
£400