The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal ... - IndianCoins.org

1 I have not yet seen the Harp mark on either denomination ;THE ELIZABETHAN COINAGES FOR IRELAND. 99(2) The like to the same persons, who are authorizedto receive 4,000 base moneysfor conversion into8,000 harp shillings and groats. Dated 1 'May, 1 Eliz.,1559 (Pat. roll, 1 Eliz., part 3).(3) The like to the same persons. 4,000 to beconverted into 8,000 as before. Dated 16 June,1 Eliz., 1559 (Pat. roll, 1 Eliz., part 4).These two coins can be identified, although undated,by the description in the foregoing commissions andby their weights, which were 144 and 48 grains respectively,being the same as the harp-moneys ofPhilip and Mary [PI. VII. 1, 2].Two privy-marks, theRose and the Harp, 1are mentioned by Simon in hisIrish Coins, but there was no obligation to hold theusual trial before the Lords of the Council and a juryat Westminster. There was merely a stipulation foran assay at the Tower in the presence of a mint officer.A question arises as to the interpretation whichshould be given to the respective amounts of Englishbase moneys convertible under the terms of the threecommissions. I think that the 12,000 in the earliestorder, for example, really represented 24,000 in coinsas originally valued at the time when they werestruck. We must remember that silver pieces, fromthe shilling to the halfpenny, were cried down totheextent of fifty per cent, by Edward VI on 17 August,1551, and that the reduction was confirmed by Maryin a proclamation of 26 December, 1554. No alterationhaving been made by Elizabeth in her first year,the rating at one-half of the face value of such coinsstill held good. The bulk of the English base silveritappears to be quite unknown, save in the books.H2