The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society

VIII.
HAVE WE NO IRISH COINS OP EDWARD VI.?
THE question asked and answered by Dr. Aquilla Smith
in the Numismatic Chronicle (N.S. vol. xix. p. 177) leads on
to another. Was there a mint working in Ireland in the
reign of Edward VI. ? and further, if there was, how is
it we are said not to possess at this time any coins of
his which can be attributed to Ireland? We possess Irish
coins of his father, Henry VIII. , although
there was no
Irish mint at work in Henry's time. And we are supposed
to have no Irish coins of King Edward, though it can be
shown that in his reign the mint in Dublin was at work.
This subject shall be approached, after drawing together
some notices of the Dublin mint which occur in the Irish
series of State Papers of that period. 1
These notices sketch graphically for us the difficulties
in Ireland which had to be surmounted before the cur-
rency was rectified, the distress of the whole people consequent
upon those difficulties, and the fruitless efforts made
there throughout Edward's reign to get things right.
It was not until his father's last year, namely, on the
24th of September, 1546, that the establishment of a mint
in Ireland was approved, "with the like establishment
1
Calendar of State Papers (Irish Series). Hamilton. 1509
1573. London, 18GO.