Irish Coinage
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Detail Image

© 2004 - Copyright
John _ Stafford-Langan
Version 1.12b
5th November, 2004

This coin is a halfpenny, struck in Dublin by the moneyer Adam, from the period when John was Lord or Ireland but not yet King of England.

This coin is from the later issue at the end of this coinage - note the cross pomme reverse (i.e a cross with pellet ends) rather than the early type cross potent (a cross with serif ends).

The legends are unblundered but are abreviated and read:

+ IO[ HANN e S ]DOM ( IOHANNES DOMINUS HYBERNIE) - John Lord of Ireland

+ ADAM O [ N D ] W e - Adam of Dublin

The use of square brackets [ ] is common numismatc convention when writing the legend of a coin which has part of the legend of the legend missing from bad striking wear or damage. The text inside the brackets represents the legend that is known to be missing on this example from comparison with other examples. If there is more than one possibility or the missing legend is unknown the symbol ... is used.

In this case there is no doubt as to what would have been there on a better struck example.

This coin presents an interesting challenge to a collector - it has a very obvious area of flatness which is present on both sides but has more of an impact on the obverse where the portrait is almost completely missing.

To a collector looking for an example of John's 'dominus' coinage it is of little interest - as better examples are generally available.

However to a collector with a more detailed objective it is definitely worth a second look.

Firstly because it is the cross pommee issue - This issue is quite a lot more difficult to find than the cross potent issue and though it is easy to miss at a glance it is always worth checking the ends of the reverse cross (of course, it is always worth checking everything - but that means you have to have a mental list of all the subvarities).

Secondly; the moneyer Adam is a common moneyer for the cross potent issue - but the Adam coins from the cross pommee issue are scarce - there is a possibility that it may not be the same 'Adam'. O'Sullivans's listing is slightly misleading on this point as teh National Musuem of Ireland has a disproportionally high number of Adam cross Pommee coins.

Thirdly; the coins of the moneyer Adam from the cross pommee issue are generally poorly struck.

This example has a large area of flatness but the coin itself is not far off 'as struck' condition. The parts of the flan that are struck up are sharp and detailed and the entire moneyer's name is clearly legible.

So if you are looking for an example or two from this period of Irish coinage you should pass this one by. But if you are looking to assemble a reasonably complete set of coins from this period then this is definitely one worth a second look - especially if offered at a reasonable price - you may not see another cross pommee Adam coin for a while and if you do it may be worse than this one.

That having been said it is still not a particularly attractive coin and it would be a mistake to pay a premium price for it.

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