Irish Coinage
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Detail Image

© 2004 - Copyright
John _ Stafford-Langan
Version 1.12
6th October, 2004

This is a penny struck in Dublin in about 1295. It is from the very limited fifth issue of Edward I's second Irish coinage.

The legends are mostly clear with no blundering and read:
(obverse) EDW R ANGL D NS hYB'
(reverse) CIVI TAS DVBL INIE
Which translates and expands to (obverse)Edward King of England, Lord of Ireland
(reverse) Citizen of Dublin

The fifth issue is distinct in that it was the only issue during which Cork was open as a mint.

While the Cork coins of this issue are quite scarce the coins from Dublin and Waterford which can be definately attributed to this issue are very rare.

The key characteristic which distinguishes the coins of this issue is the presence of a pellet all three angles of the obverse triangle. On the example above the pellet to the left of the head is very clear but the one to the right is obscure by a depression in the coin. The clear pellet on the left is sufficient to identify the issue as no other issue has any device in either of the upper angles.

Apart from the additional pellets the coin exhibits he classic features of a late issue Edward I Irish penny. Most notably the initial E of EDW is the closed type (often lacking a cross bar as in this case) and the C at the beginning of CIVITAS on the reverse is also the closed type.

This coin is in Good Fine / Fine condition. The obverse is somewhat better than the reverse. The obverse has most of the detail quite clear but there is some general wear. The obverse toning tends to highlight the remaining detail quite well so it is an attractive example for its grade. The reverse has a weakly struck quarter at TAS and appears to have been slightly double struck at INIE. The flan is a bit small and it has probably been clipped down to a later weight standard from its original issue standard.

Overall this is quite a pleasing specimen given the rarity of the issue, this being probably only the third example reported. But there may be other surviving examples which have not been identified to this issue as yet.

Compare this coin's lettering with an early coin of Edward I :

A penny of Edward I of Dublin (second issue)

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