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17th Century Irish Æ Coinage
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Historical 17th Century Irish Æ Coinage

Ireland has had a turbulent history which has played out in it's coinage, particularly during the 17th century. Charles II assumed the throne on the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, unfortunately the dynastic struggle did not end then - in fact it only worsened. While Charles II had fathered a known 27 children, unfortunately for him, none of them were legitimate. In fact they were all the children of his numerous mistresses and not his wife, Catherine of Braganza.

Because of this it was apparent in the middle of his reign that his younger brother, James, would assume the throne had Charles II died. In February 1685 Charles II died, and in fact his younger brother did become King. This greatly disturbed the Protestant establishment in England as James II was a practicing Roman Catholic and they were concerned that he would overturn the prominence of the Anglican church in English politics. These 1684 halfpennies were the last coins minted for Ireland during the reign of Charles II. Only a small portion of the coinage had been struck whence Charles II had died, resulting in a scarce date for 1684 dated coins.

The new monarch brought a new coinage, and curiously the alignment of the obverse versus the reverse changed along with the direction the monarch was facing. It has been custom since the reign of Henry VIII that the succeeding monarch would face in the opposite direction on the coinage to that of their predecessor, this custom continues to the current day. James II's coinage as an uncontested British monarch would only continue for four successive years, from 1685 - 1688, but in a curious twist for modern day collectors, his coinage continued in Ireland until 1691, and brought about many fascinating varieties of coinage reflecting the turbulence of the times.

These coins were struck by Patent granted by authorisation of Charles II in 1680 given to Sir William Armstrong and Colonel George Legg. After Charles II's demise, James II confirmed the patent, which effectively continued the contract coinage. The quality of the coinage was generally fairly reputable, but occasional mistakes happened as evidenced by this clipped planchet halfpenny. Notice that a portion of the coin is missing from the planchet being struck by the cutter once again.

By 1689 the Protestant establishment in England had endured enough of James II's perceived pro-Catholic administration of the government. James II's daughter, Mary and her husband, William of Orange were invited by Parliament to ascend the throne in Great Britain in 1688. James II fled London, allegedly dumping the great seal into the Thames River and travelled first to France. There he planned for an invasion of Ireland, where he was still regarded as the lawful King. He landed in Ireland in March 1689 and soon the Williamite War of 1689-91 was engaged. Seriously short of funds to pay troops and to pay for supplies, James II's forces were reduced to having to smelt older cannons to use in striking a token coinage that would be redeemed within a set period of time - especially a victory. This so called Gunmoney sixpence was struck for June 1689 and reflected the desire to redeem the coinage in an orderly fashion over time.

The usage of months and years on the coinage makes for an interesting variety - most are fairly common, but there are scarcer months. And then when bronze became scarcer, the token coinage shrunk in size, so the three denominations were all made in smaller coins.

By May 1690 all three denominations, sixpence, shilling and halfcrown were downsized. In July 1690 James II's forces suffered a stinging defeat by William III's forces at the Battle of the Boyne - effectively demoralising James II into leaving his forces and returning to exile in France. His army in Ireland, depleted, but determined continued the struggle by retreating to Limerick where a seige ensued.

The halfcrown or 2/6 coin was the largest denomination commonly released into circulation. A crown or 5/- coin was also struck but is much scarcer.

With the defeat at the Battle of the Boyne and the Seige of Limerick the previously issued gunmoney lost all value. The beseiged forces in Limerick held out for over a year. Beginning in the summer of 1691 this halfpenny coin was struck, using the small sized gunmoney shillings that no longer had value. Traces of the design of the host coin can be seen. One of the curious aspects of the Limerick besieged issue halfpennies is the reversed "N" in HIBERNIA on the reverse. After holding out for over a year, starvation took it's toll and a negotiated surrender took place in October 1691. The gunmoney coins continued to circulate again, but were reduced to their equivalent in farthing, halfpenny for the sixpences and shillings. They were demonetised by the Crown in the early 1690's and lost all value except for that of their metal content. The 1691 Limerick halfpennies continued to circulate but are scarce today.

Ireland always was treated as a backwater by the Crown, no matter what the politic or religion in Ireland were. One of the most telling aspects of this that remains testament to this day is the coinage struck for Ireland. Instead of being struck by the Crown, rather it was struck by Patent granted by the King. George II granted the Patent to William Wood, a mine owner. He of course saw the potential for profit, by issuing smaller coinage using less metal in each coin. So more coins were created with less metal, but by the time the coins landed in Ireland they were rejected because they were underweight. Subsequently the coins were accumulated and sent in some quantity to the American colonies, where just as in Ireland they were rejected as being underweight. Some colonial American governments even made the usage of them within their colonies illegal - notably Massachusetts Bay made them illegal and released an issue of small denomination paper money to drive them out of circulation.