emergency coinage known as gun money was struck with the the month as well as the year. JamesII landed at kinsale on march 12th 1689 to recover his throne from williamIII. To pay his franco-irish army james had an emergency coinage struck largely of scrap metal from old cannons old cannons being of brass the coinage was virtually worthless except as a metal promise to redeem -in gold or in silver at a later date Eventually even the gun money metal became difficult to get or produce in a sufficient quantity so james had existing coins overstruck.thus sixpences became shillings. Shillings became halfcrowns.and halfcrowns were over-struck to become crowns. Redemption however relied on james being successfull. But when he reached the north things went from bad and the battle of the boyne nearly ended this. The french never in decisive numbers went home. William eventually defeated james and now took a terrible revenge on james his soldiers and anybody who had honoured the gun money He proclaimed the coins to be legar tender but with new values Large half crowns revalued at one penny Small half crowns etc =three farthings Shillings and sixpences=one farthing The coin i have here is a large shilling aug 1689 Just wanted to share this lilte bit of history with you Dave
Lovely coin Dave and a great bit of history, it is something I am still trying to add to my collection :smile
thanks steve and i am still trying to get more hard to get in high grades without paying over the price dave
Thanks for sharing the tale of these coins, always found them fascinating and so connected to British and Irish history. I myself want one of the 1691 Limerick halfpennies - such a cool and enigmatic piece.
thanks i still have to get one my self thanks thanks thanks even though i forgot one or two words it depends on the size of your purse dave
