The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society

220 HENRY SYMONDS.
of silver of the 3 oz. standard which is mentioned in
the King's Journal (ed. 1680) on 10 April, 30 May,
and 18 June, 1551, and in a mint commission to
Sir Edmund Peckham of the same year.
It is conceivable that the Archdeacon's opinion was
influenced in favour of the Irish theory by two orders
of the Privy Council on 10 August, 1551, when a
warrant was sent to Sir J. Yorke to deliver to Peckham
16,000 of the " "
new coinage in shillings (i.
e. of 3 oz.
second warrant autho-
fine), after \2d. the shilling : a
rized Peckham to transport the same to Ireland, for
the King's payments there. The Council by this
manoeuvre paid the creditors in Ireland with a coin
rated as I2d., which coin had been reduced to 9d. in
England during the preceding month and was within
a week to be further cried down to 6d. To my mind,
these tactics do not show that the shillings were
primarily intended for Ireland, but rather that the
Council seized the opportunity to relieve themselves
of a parcel of depreciated English currency, with a
considerable gain to the Exchequer.
There remains the fourth variety of shilling, marked
with a harp ;
this stands in a different category, and
I shall have occasion to refer to it presently in another
connexion. Meanwhile I will express the view that
this shilling, when dated 1551, maybe apocryphal. It
appears to exist only in Euding's plate (Suppl. iv. 30),
where it is drawn as a coin with the legends partly
defaced. I feel little doubt that the last numeral of
MDLII was illegible, and that the illustration represents
a shilling dated 1552. Perhaps this comment will
elicit an undoubted example of the year 1551.
On 17 August, 1551, a proclamation again reduced