Edward IV., 1461 to 1483.
The type of this king's coins resembles those of his predecessors, being his bust, full face, crowned;
but having also various marks or letters in the field or upon the breast. Before his fourth year his coins
weigh at the rate of 15 grains to the penny: after this date only 12 grains.
His early groats are of the London mint; they read EDWARD DI GRA REX ANGL Z FRAN. MM. rose,
quatrefoil at each side of the neck, crescent on the breast, annulet before legend. (347). MB.
Without the annulet. Rev. E. J. SHEPHERD. Without the crescent or annulet; lozenge after
CIVITAS. MB. MM. cross; dot on each side of the crown and in two quaters (sic) of reverse, lis
on the neck. MB. Similar, but the lis on the breast. MB. clipped weight 49 gr. MM.
cross croslet, lis on neck, FRAN Rev. MM. lis. Rud. v. 1. all rather rare.
His other London groats read FRAN or FRANC.
- MM. cross pierced and pellet; rose after DEVM. MB.
- MM. cross with pellet in each angle. Rev. MM. cross pierced.
- MM. cross fitchee; trefoil at each side of neck. Rev. MM. Sun. MB.
- MM. heraldic cinquefoil, rose on breast and after DEVM. MB.
- Four crosses after legend, and the rose before MEVM instead of DEVM.
- MM. rose, annulet at each side of neck, lozenge after CIVITAS. MB. Mr. Cuff has one of
these with C on the king's breast; i. e. a Conventry obv. accidentally attached to a London rev.
- Quatrefoil instead of annulet, dot in one quarter. MB.
- MM. sun, quatrefoil at each side of neck. MB. Rud. v. 3.
- MM. crown, quatrefoil at each side of neck. MB.
- Similar, with quatrefoil also on breast. Rev. MM. sun. MB. Rud. v. 2.
- Similar but B on breast, i. e. a Bristol obv. Rev. MM. crown. MB. Rud. Sup. iii. 12.
- MM. annulet. MB.
- Similar and annulet after DI and REX. MB.
- MM. annulet inclosing pellet, rose at each side of neck. MB.
- MM. same, star at left, rose at right of neck. CUFF.
- MM. boar's head, pellet under head. MB. very rare.
Bristol: MM. crown, quatrefoil at each side of neck, B. on breast. BRISTOLL. MB. Rud. v. 8. or
BRISTOW. 9.
MM. sun, quatrefoil, and B. as above. MB.
Another has the trefoil instead of the quatrefoil. MB.
Coventry: reads FRANC. Rev. COVETRE. MM. sun. C. on breast, quatrefoil at each side of neck.
MB. Rud. v. 4. Sn. ii. 39. Mr. Cuff has one without the C. rather rare.
Norwich: reads NORVIC or NORWIC. N on breast, MM and type as Coventry. MB. Rud. v. 7.
rare.
York: MM. lis, E on breast, four pellets, or a quatrefoil at each side of neck. MB. Rud. v. 6.
Similar without the four pellets. MB. Sometimes trefoils instead of quatrefoils. MB.
Sometimes the Rev. MM. is the crown. MB. Rud. v. 5. Sometimes the sun. MB.
Sometimes sun on both sides. MB. MM. cross, omits the E, reads FRANCVS, and POS for POSVI,
and has trefoils between the words of the legend. MB.
The early half groats are of London. MM. rose, and something like a crescent under the chin, 27 gr.
Rev. E. J. SHEPHERD. MM. cross, lis on breast, pellet at each side of crown, line across breast,
29 gr. CUFF. both extremely rare.
Half groats of Edward IV. were struck at London, Bristol, Canterbury, Norwich and York. They read
EDWARD DI or DEI GRA REX ANGL Z FR. FRA. or FRANC. The London half groats have MM. annulet.
MB. Cross pierced. MB. Crown with trefoil at each side of the neck. MB.; or with
quatrefoil at each side and on breast. MB. Rud. Sup. iii. 14. but quatrefoil on breast omitted.
Bristol: MM. crown, quatrefoil at each side of neck, BRISTOW. MB. MM. sun. CUFF. MM.
cross, lis on breast, pellet each side of crown, line across breast, weight 29 gr. CUFF.
Canterbury: all rare. MM. rose, C on breast. MB. Rud. v. 10. Sometimes C on centre of
cross. MB. Sometimes some other object, perhaps a rose or star, on the centre. MB.
Sometimes without either C, and a trefoil appears at each side of the neck. MB. MM. obv.
cross fitchee, rev. heraldic cinquefoil. MB. MM. crown, at each side of neck a cross?
MB. or a trefoil at each side of neck, and MM. on reverse a sun. MB.; or a millwrine? at
each side of neck. MB. MM. archiepiscopal pall, under the head a knot. (348). MB.
Sometimes a quatrefoil at each side of the neck. MM. sun on reverse of both sorts. MB.
Sometimes small triangular dots appear in the field of the obverse. MB. Sometimes a cross
over the pall, (349); both these last have the pall for MM. on rev. MB. The object under the
head has been called a crown of thorns, and some other names, but is in fact a knot, the badge of Abp.
Bourchier, who held the see of Canterbury from 1454 to 1486. His tomb in the cathedral is richly
decorated with these objects, which are familiarly called Bourchier knots.
Norwich: MM. sun, N on breast, quatrefoils at sides of neck. Rud. Sup. iii. 15. Sn. ii. 38. Not
known.
York: MM. on both sides, lis, quatrefoil or cross at each side of neck, cross after DEVM. (350). MB.
rare. Rud. Sup. iii. 13. is a thick piece the size of a half groat, but weighing 76 gr.; it reads EDWAR DI
GRA REX ANGL, at one side of the neck is R, perhaps for Abp. Rotherham, on the other a cross, MM.
cross; it reads EBORACE.
The pennies were struck at London, Bristol, Durham and York. They read EDWARD DI or DEI GRA REX
ANG ANGL ANGLI or ANGLIE, and are very rarely to be met with in good condition.
London: MM. cinquefoil. MB. Cross pierced. MB. Cross patee fitchee. Rud. Sup. iii. 16.
Sun, quatrefoil at each side of neck. MB. Crown, quatrefoil, &c. MB. Rud. Sup. ii. 2. 32.
and v. 11. In the descriptions of this last the quatrefoils are called fleurs de lis.--EDWARD REX ANGL Z
FRA. lis on neck, pellet at each side of crown, and in two quarters. CUFF.
Bristol: MM. crown, trefoil? at right of neck, VILLA BRISTOLL. (351). MB. ext. rare
Canterbury. We do not know of any specimen, the one represented in Rud. Sup. iii. 29. and said to be
in the Mus., is in fact a coin of Waterford, in bad condition.
Durham: DERAM. DERAME DERHAM DONOLI DUNELMIE DVNOLMIE. 1. DERHAM. MM. crown,
quatrefoil at sides of neck. MB. Rud. Sup. iii. 25. 2. MM. cross, rose on centre of rev.
MB. with sometimes a dot in one quarter. Sir H. ELLIS. 3. Lis at each side of neck, D on
rev.; reads DERAM and DI. MB. 4. DERAME, key at right, B at left of neck, for Booth, bishop
from 1457 to 1476, D. on rev. Rud. v. 12. This is a mistake, the Durham coins never have a key. Mr.
Cuff has one with a trefoil in the place of the key. 5. DVNOLMIE. MM rose, quatrefoil at each side of
neck, B to left of crown, V on breast, D in centre of rev. V in first quarter, a dot between the pellets in
each quarter. MB. 6. Same rev. but without quatrefoil, B or V on obv. MB. 7. DVNELMIE.
B. to left of crown, quatrefoil in centre of cross. Rud. Sup. iii. 28. 8. DVNEL . . . . D in centre of rev. Rud.
Sup. iii. 27. He is mistaken in saying that this coin is in the Brit. Mus. 9. To this king we suppose a coin
to belong which has to the left of the neck four pellets, to the right B. it reads . . . DI. G . . REX A . . .
Rev. . . . TAS DO . . . . MB. 10. MM. ? D. for Dudley, Bp. from 1476 to 1483, to the left, a cross of
four pellets to right of neck. Rev. DERAM, with small trefoil? after DE. MB. 11. DONOLI. MM.
crown, D to left of neck, quatrefoil to right. Rud. Sup. iii. 26. Sn. ii. 37. 12. D. to left, V to right.
MB. legend quite obliterated. The V in the rev. of No. 5. Mr. Combe considered to indicate the
commencement of the legend, but as it also occurs upon the breast of the king upon the same coin
and in the field of No. 12, it had probably some further meaning not yet discovered. 13. MM. cross,
EDWARD . . . REX ANGLIE. Rev. DONOLI, a rose in the centre of the cross. (352). MB. 14.
Another similar with a dot between the pellets in one quarter. MB. 15. Similar to last but one,
but has on obv. two pellets between each word, and the first and last E reversed. MB.
York: 1. MM. rose. Rud. Sup. iii. 20. 2. Rose on breast. (354). MB. 3. Rose on breast and at each
side of neck. Rud. Sup. iii. 19. 4. E, for Eboraci, to left of neck, rose to right. MB. Rud. Sup. iii.
23. 5. Lis or cross at each side of neck, cross at end of legend on obv. and reads DEI. 6. Key at left of
neck, rose to right. Rud. Sup. iii. 24. 7. G. for George Nevill, Abp. from 1466 to 1477, at left of neck, key
at right. Rud. Sup. iii. 21. MB. but MM. a cinquefoil. 8. Rose instead of key at the right.
MB. 9. MM. cross patee fitchee. G. at left, key at right. Rud. Sup. iii. 22. 10. Similar but MM. lis.
MB. 11. B. for Booth, Abp. from 1477 to 1480 at one side, key at the other. MB. rare.
12. T. for Thomas Rotherham, Abp. from 1480 to 1504, at the left, key at right. MB. All these
have, upon the reverse, an open quatrefoil upon the centre of the cross.
His early halfpence were struck in London. MM. rose, EDWARD DI GRA REX A, four pellets at each side
of neck; under the bust an annulet inclosing a pellet. Weight 8 ¼ gr. MB. v. r. MM. cross,
EDWARD REX ANG. Pellet at each side of crown and in two quarters of rev. Lis on neck. Weight 7 3/4
gr. Rev. E. J. SHEPHERD. v. r.
The other halfpence were struck at London, Bristol, Canterbury or Durham. They read EDWARD REX
ANGL or ANGLI, or DI or DEI GRA REX. London, MM. cross fitchee, trefoil at each side of neck.
MB. MM. cinquefoil. MB. MM. rose. Rud. v. 13. MM. rose, annulet at each side of
neck. MB. Rud. v. 14. Sn. ii. 36. Cross instead of annulet. MB. Rud. Sup. iii. 18. MM.
coronet, trefoil at each side of neck. MB. Rud. Sup. iii. 17. The MM. on Mus. specimen
obliterated; Ruding's plate, taken from that coin, is therefore doubtful. MM. coronet, cross at left, lis
at right of neck. CUFF. Trefoil at each side of neck. MB. MM. star, pellet at each side;
another, star at each side, both CUFF. MM. cross pierced. MB. another, cross at each
side of neck. CUFF. MM. rowel? MM. cross pierced, pellet at each side of neck. MB.
MM? three pellets at each side of neck, small wedge in one quarter of rev. MB.
Durham: DERAM. MM. ? some letter, &c. at the sides of head, D in centre of reverse. MB.
Bristol: EDWARD DI GRA REX. Three pellets at each side of neck, MM. crown. VILLA BRISTOV. MB.
Rev. E. J. SHEPHERD. (353). ext. rare.
Canterbury: MM. oblit. EDWARD DI GRA . . . trefoil at each side of neck. MB. r. MM. rose, C on
breast. Rev. E. J. SHEPHERD.
Farthings of this king are scarcely known. Rud. Sup. 2. xvi. 14. belongs to Edward III. weighing 4
¼ gr.; much too heavy even for the first coinage of Edward IV. Mr. Cuff has a piece probably of
this reign weighing 2 1/3 gr., it reads EDWARD REX ANGL. (355). What Sn. ii. 35 may be, it is impossible
to guess.
Edward V., 1483.
Short as was the reign of this young king, coins are said to have been issued in his name and by his
authority; none however are known to have been his have come down to us; and it is more probably
that none were ever struck, or, if they were, that they were struck from dies of his father's coins.
Unattributable coins of Henry IV, V, and VI |
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Richard III
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