The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society

NUMISMATIC SOCIETY. 21
A remarkable hoard of coins belonging to the days of Stephen,
and recently found at Nottingham, has been brought under our
notice by Mr. Toplis. Among the coins are examples of those
attributed to the Empress Maud, and of those bearing the name
of Wereric ;
but among the most interesting are a large number
struck frojn dies bearing the image and superscription of
Stephen, but purposely defaced, either by a large cross extend-
ing over the whole die, or by a smaller one partially oblitera-
ting the head. Nearly twenty years ago Canon Pownall first
called attention to one of these coins defaced by the long
cross on the obverse, and he has now communicated to us
another interesting paper on the subject of these coins, making the
suggestion that they may be " the Duke's money," of which
mention is made by Hoveden, which was struck by Henry, the
son of Maud, afterwards Henry II. It certainly seems not at
all improbable that during hostilities, when money was in
demand and a mint of the enemy had been captured, the
device of defacing the dies before bringing them again into
use might have been adopted. To engrave new dies involved
the presence of punches for letters and the skill to use them ;
but by softening the steel dies a simple cross could readily be
made in them either by the file or chisel, and when rehardened
the dies would again be fit for use, producing coins with the
locally deposed king's image and superscription defaced.
In another convincing paper Canon Pownall has vindicated,
principally on documentary evidence, the Irish origin of certain
testoons of Edward VI. From their base alloy, these coins
had been a puzzle to English numismatists, as the restored
money of fine silver was already in circulation in England the
year before these base pieces
were struck. The testoons with
the harp mint-mark will doubtless in future be assigned to the
Dublin mint. Whether those with the lion, the rose, and the
fleur-de-lis which are classed with the harp coins in the pro-
clamation of Elizabeth, are also of Irish origin, is a question
requiring further investigation.