Irish Coinage
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Henry III
The Irish Coinage of Henry III, 1251 to 1254
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©
2000 - Copyright
John_Stafford-Langan
Version 1.07e
2nd July, 2000
Introduction to The Irish Coinage of Henry III, 1251 to 1254
In 1251 Henry III reopened the Irish mint in Dublin
and struck a coinage of silver pennies. This coinage was
also of the same standard as the contemporary English
coinage and very similar in appearance to it. Again its
purpose was to provide a convenient mechanism for
exporting the silver from Ireland, but in this instance
no smaller denominations were produced to support the
local economy.
The success of this mechanism is shown by the fact that
more than 50% of the surviving specimens of this coinage
have been found in European rather than English or Irish
hoards. The great Bruxelles hoard of 1908 contained some
1800 pennies of this type and a further selection of
European copies of the Irish type sterling.
This hoard and the other surviving specimens of this
coinage make it the medieval coinage of which the
greatest percentage of coins struck are known to survive.
It is also supported by a large proportion of the
original accounts of the mint being available to
researchers. And as a result it has helped uncover
significant information about coinage production rates,
die yields and other statistics.
Richard's rights included the right to strike coinage in Ireland, and in 1251 he commenced this coinage. The mint operated for three years from 1251 to 1254 under the control of Roger de Haverhull. The dies for the coinage were made in London and sent to Dublin. As the dies were made in London it is reasonable to assume that two existing London moneyers of the period, Richard Bonaventure and David of Enfield are probably the RICARD and DAVI who signed the Irish coins.
There is a similarity in style between some aspects of the London coins and the Dublin issues. Because the London coins feature the king's head in a circle rather than triangle the shoulders do not show on the English coins so some varieties in the Irish issues have no English equivalents. A further study of the comparison between the London and Dublin dies of Ricard and Davi might yield additional date information where some of the English issues can be tied to Irish ones which are clearly associated with this three year period of production.
There is no clear chronological break down of the minor variations in this issue of coins.
Henry III Penny - Type IIIa -Ricard
The coinage consisted only of pennies which were cut in halves and quarters to accommodate the needs of smaller change. These cut halfpennies and farthings do turn up occasionally, but are not in particular demand as from a collectors point of view they are of much less interest than the full uncut pennies.
There is no indication that any particular variety of these coins is representative of a particular event or change in mint policy, so the varieties which are listed in various catalogues are more a representation of those varieties which have been noted in publications or remarked in in auction catalogues rather than being an exhaustive list.
A Copy of an English Penny of Henry
III with a Dublin signature
These coins were copied extensively across Northern
Europe in the years following the issue. Some copies are
easy to detect as they are clearly of a different style
from the genuine coinage. Some coins are mules of Irish
and English dies as in the illustration above.
Bibliography of The Irish Coinage of Henry III, 1251 to 1254
Dykes, D. "The Irish Coinage of Henry III" - BNJ XXXII, 1963
Index of Images of The Irish Coinage of Henry III, 1251 to 1254
Henry III Penny - Type I a - Ricard
Henry III Penny - Type IIa - Davi
Henry III Penny - Type IIIa -Ricard
Henry III Penny - Type IV - Ricard
Henry III Penny - Type IVb - (three curls) - Ricard
A Copy of an English Penny of Henry III with a Dublin signature