Introduction You may wonder what this article has to do with coins, or Ireland. The story begins during the War of the Three Kingdoms – otherwise known as the Bishops’ War in Scotland, the Great Rebellion in Ireland, and the English Civil War. After the execution of Charles I in 1649 many of his Crown…
Date: 1679 Description: Country: Ireland Category: Charles II Token Notes: This token is interesting for a number of reasons: It was issued after the last proclamation of Charles II banning the use of such tokens. Prior to this issue, it was not uncommon for city mayors to issue tokens in their own name, though not…
Introduction: Sir Isaac Newton is, perhaps, best known as an English physicist and mathematician who is widely recognised as one of the most influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in the scientific revolution. His book “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy”, first published in 1687, laid the foundations for classical mechanics Newton made…
Background After a brief hiatus of experimentation with a pseudo-republican government under Oliver Cromwell, the English monarchy was reinstated in 1660 but Charles II began his reign with vastly reduced powers, especially in the realm of taxation – responsibility for which had been transferred to Parliament. This was a major restriction on Charles II and…
Background By the mid-17th century, the goldsmith bankers had a virtual monopoly on banking and had made extensive loans to King Charles II. The king was able to do this and circumvent parliament completely via the use of ‘tally sticks’ but there was a natural limit to this debt expansion, i.e. the amount of gold held…
Background The Great Stop of 1672 caused five of the leading London Goldsmiths to go bust, drastically affected nine others, and ‘financially embarrassed over 10,000 wealthy families in England. The Great Stop effectively ended the ‘cosy relationship’ between the king and a small clique of private bankers that thrived on the Crown’s inability to generate…
Introduction On 23rd October 1680, letters patent were granted to Sir Thomas Armstrong and Colonel George Legge) to manufacture copper halfpennies for use in Ireland for a period of 21 years. They were to be dated 1680, 1681, 1682, 1683, 1684 and 1685 but, since Charles II died in 1684, no coins dated 1685 have…
Introduction On 6th June 1680, the Lord Lieutenant (The Earl of Arran) issued a proclamation that a new table for the calculation of foreign coin values. This was done in response to the large amount of foreign (non-English) coins that were circulating in Ireland at this time but the monetary challenges that faced Charles II…
Introduction Though fresh attempts were being made in the reign of Charles II to strengthen Britain’s currency, these efforts did not prevent the monetary crisis of the 1680s which saw a fast decline of England’s currency on the international exchange markets. The basic unit of account was the pound sterling defined as the equivalent of 240 pennies…
Proclamation of Charles II, Issued 16 August 1672 Making Current the Royal Farthings and Halfpennys and Forbidding the Use of All Others By the King. A Proclamation for making currant His Majestie’s Farthings and Half-pence of Copper, and forbidding all others to be used. Charles R. Whereas of late years several Persons and Corporations, upon…
The Old Currency Exchange is a specialist dealer and valuer of Irish & GB coins, tokens and banknotes 