Irish Coinage
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Catalog
Edward III &
Henry VI

Catalog of Irish Coin Prices, Edward III (1339) & Henry VI (1425)

Index

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© 2010 - Copyright
John _ Stafford-Langan
Version 1.17a
25 June, 2010

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or follow the links from the main page for a more structured approach to the history of the coinage.

Both the coinages covered by this part of the catalogue are extremely rare. However one of these coins has sold recently (Whyte's Millennial Sale- 2000). This sale and prices achieved recently for other extremely rare Irish coins of a similar type and rarity such as those in Whyte's "Terenure" Sale in 1998 do allow an estimate of the value of these coins to be made.

More recently the LaRiviere sale included the same Edward III halfpenny returning to the market.

I have included prices for coins in the grades known and in lower grades, I have not included prices for coins in better grades than any of the known specimens on the basis that a high grade specimen is unlikely to turn up.

Recent changes in pricing and newly listed varieties are priced in bold text.

These coins are priced in Euros - (not in dollars and not in Irish pounds)

Edward III

These coins are a continuation of the style of the later Dublin coins of Edward I.

The principle obverse design is of a crowned bust in an inverted triangle. The principle reverse design is the traditional cross and pellets.

The key characteristic differentiating these coins from those of Edward I is the fully expanded kings name in the legend (thus : EDWARDVS REX) and on the halfpennies a star mintmark in the obverse and reverse legends .

There are three coins known of this issue - they are two halfpennies and a farthing - but pennies may also have been made and examples may turn up in the future. 

Some recent reading I have done on the English mint operation in the 1339 period suggest that there may have been only halfpennies and farthings in the Irish 1339 issue.  And considering the differences between the purposes of this coinage (to provide coin for the local economy) and those of the earlier coinage (providing a mechanism to allow English holders of Irish land to move silver to England) the denominations may have been limited to the lower two which had previously served this purpose under both John and Edward I.

Henry VI

The brief issue of pennies by Henry VI for Ireland was the first coinage struck for Ireland for almost 100 years.

The coins are very much in the style of the London pennies of the annulet issues of 1422-1427 but with a Dublin mint signature. The coins are well made and the three identified surviving specimens are all in similar condition (about Very Fine). Further examples may turn up in the future.

By this time the triangle which had been used since the Irish coinage of John as King in about 1200 until the coinage of Edward III in 1339 had been discarded in favour of a circle around the portrait of purely English style.