NEW BOOK ON IRISH SMALL SILVER Pubblico Deposited
The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 17, April 25, 2004, Article 9
NEW BOOK ON IRISH SMALL SILVER
Paul Withers writes: "I have great pleasure in announcing the
publication, on the birthday of the Bard of Avon, the latest
monograph in our Small Change series.Irish Small Silver - John - Edward VI. Identifying Irish
Farthings and Halfpennies, 1172 - 1553. It also includes
the three-farthings coin of Edward VI, which was struck
with the name and portrait of Henry VIII. Details follow :56 pages. A5 2004. Price, including postage 13 GBP or
USA $27. Available from the authors Paul and Bente Withers.
Galata Print Ltd., Market Street, LLANFYLLIN, Powys
SY22 5BX. UK. US cheques to be made payable to
'Paul Withers'.This is an easy to use guide, with lots of enlarged photographs
and line drawings, and every type is also illustrated natural size
as well, so as to show what the real thing looks like in all its
tiny glory. All legends, so far as they are known, are shown
in full. All the known mints, Dublin, Waterford, Limerick, Cork,
Killkenny, Downpatrick, and Carrickfergus, are represented,
and whilst there are no major new varieties for the coins of
John as Prince, most of the known specimens of which come
from two already published hoards, we have managed to find
several new legends and small varieties which were not known,
or noted by O'Sullivan. The main importance of the book is
for the coins of John as king, and Edward I, where there are
some major varieties - new types, or denominations for the mint,
and legend varieties listed for the first time, as well as this beingthe first real study of the small coins of Edward I for Ireland !
No keyhole stuff here though, as we show these tiny coins
twice as large as life !There is an historical introduction, largely on the earliest of the
people involved, because unless one is irish, one tends not to
know very much about what, why and when the events
happened - and they are different from english history, even
though some of the characters involved appear in both countries.
Indeed, it does even throw some light upon the conquest of
England by the normans, who show up, by and large, as a
load of really nasty folk, intent upon the good life for themselves,
whilst they pillaged and practised ethnic cleansing on others, but
just to show that they were even-handed, they did kill each other
too. The indigenous inhabitants of the Emerald Isle were not that
pleasant either; but we get some of them in, including the dreadful
Dermot MacMurrough who started the whole thing off by inviting
the normans to his country, so that he could reclaim his kingdom.Mother Church also comes into the picture, appearing as a
greedy, growing pan-european monarchy, with many of its the top
posts sinecure rewards for faithful civil servants. What did the
Church get from it? Honest holiness, piety, charity? Nah, in
yer dreams man; this was the middle ages! They wanted to get
Peter's pence! Are we biased? No, not really. What we
present is a personally-selected series of chronological events,
chosen to encourage the reader to read more widely for himself.
If it seems to be sensationalist and limited, so what ? Pursue the
truth, whatever that might be, yourself. This book is intended to
encourage you not only to collect old bits of worn, clipped metal
(irish coins are a bit like that), but to read. Do I need to preach
the joys and virtues of reading here? Probably not, but even the
most ardent of numismatic bibliophiles need prodding from time
to time, to make them realise that there are other viewpoints and
books about different subjects worth reading in the pursuit of
information about your coins - that¹s where all the fun liesPlease note our new e-mail address: Paul at galata.co.uk
Visit our website: galata.co.uk"- 2004-04-25
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