Certainly not Ancient or
Medieval. Not
Islamic or
Crusader either. But this seemed the best place to put this post.
Ireland: gunmoney: half-crown (2 ½ shillings, or 30 pence), May 1690, Limerick.
Obverse: IACOBVS . II . DEI . GRATIA / Laureate
bust of
James II, left.
Reverse: MAG . BR . FRA . ET . HIB .
REX / Two scepters in saltire behind a crown, which divides the letters J R ; above the crown is the date . 1690 . and
XXX for the mark of value; below the crown is the month MAY .
9.35 gm (144.29329 gr), 29 mm.
S-6580B.
This half-crown is from the second (“
reduced size”) issue of gunmoney. The
bust is that used in Limerick to
mint half-crowns from May to October 1690.
The
reverse side of this
coin shows evidence of
clashed dies. There are traces of
incuse reversed letters under and in between the letters of the
reverse legend.
Under and in between
MAG . BR . are the reversed letters SVBOCA.
Under and in between HIB .
REX are the reversed letters AITARG.
When read right to left, these letters are
part of the
obverse legend IACOBVS . II . GRATIA.
If these letters were evidence of this coin being
overstruck on another coin – which apparently happened with the second issue – the letters would be in relief (perhaps a
bit flattened) and would read left to right as usual.
Click on pictures to enlarge them.
