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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Coinsandmedals, post: 4051359, member: 107435&quot;]Very cool! Thank you for taking the time to attribute these. I’ve read a few articles on the St. Patrick pieces, and apparently they are shrouded in mystery. There just isn’t a whole lot of information on them. I also noticed that several articles made the argument for large and small as opposed to halfpenny and farthing. It seems as though most believe these were struck in Dublin (1663-1672). If that were the case, then it is likely that Swedish copper was used. From what I recall, there were no major fluctuations in the copper market at the time. I found an excerpt from a book written by Franklin D. Scott (1988) that seemingly supports the idea of somewhat stable copper prices. He points out that when Spain ceased production of copper coins the market price of copper fell considerably between 1626-1631. He then argues that Sweden tried to gain a monopoly on the market but never succeeded. It appears that prices remained low even though Sweden was trying to create more demand. All of this is to say that there was likely not enough fluctuation in copper prices to warrant a reduction in weight if struck at two different times. From the sources I have, it also appears these pieces were not well received in Ireland so it seems odd they would strike a second batch at a later date with a reduction in the weight if they were trying to gain public acceptance. Of course the flaw in this logic is that it assumes the small pieces came after the large, but if it were the opposite, it would make a stronger case for the small vs large designation( i.e., increasing the weight to gain more public acceptance). These points make me lean towards the explanation that the size difference marks two denominations. All of this, of course, is my speculation and I am confident that Martin has an excellent argument for why he uses the term large and small as opposed to halfpenny and farthing. Now I’m even more curious, so perhaps I should break down and spend the $80 on the book.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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