The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society

204: HENKY SYMONDS.
(1544), to strike harp-groats, to be current within the
realm of Ireland, of the standard of 8 oz. fine silver
and 4 oz. alloy in the pound Troy. (The half-groat is
not mentioned.) Of these groats Bowes had made
2,780 Ibs. Troy in the month of May, 1544, on which
the King's clear gain was 15s. 3Jd in each pound
weight. (Exch. Acct. 302/23.)
It would appear that the debasement of the standard
of fineness for Ireland conformed, in the main, to the
lowering of the quality of the English silver coins,
although the changes in the two series were not
effected on the same dates. In 1545 both countries
used the same standard for a time, but that instance
of uniformity was exceptional. Can a groat of the
third issue be recognized? I think so, albeit the
general type of the preceding coinage was still in
vogue. I caused a double assay to be made of a
harp-groat reading Rex, and bearing the mint-mark
Lys. The report on the coin was 8 oz. 4 dwt. grs.
fine silver in the pound, no " average "
being necessary
in this instance [PI. IX. 5]. Although the degree of
fineness is better than the prescribed standard by
4 dwt. in the pound Troy, the excess is not very
remarkable, and it seems proper to assign mint-mark
Lys (when undated) to the third coinage. (Cf. Hand-
book, p. 228, no. 53.)
I have now reached a stage in the history when it
will be convenient to refer to a more debatable topic,
that is, the Irish coins with the portrait of Henry VIII.
The writers who have dealt with this by-path in numis-
matics, Simon, Lindsay, Aquilla Smith, and, in more
recent years, Mr. Grueber, have classified these pieces
as belonging to the King whose name they bore. On