Irish penny of Richard III

Neil Dazley asked for my opinion on the hammered silver coin pictured here, which had already been identified as an Irish penny of Richard III.

On the obverse there is an annulet either side of the king’s neck.  All that can be seen of the legend on the reverse is AS DVBL. Therefore, I would agree that this is an Irish penny of Richard III. It is an example of the Dublin type listed as number 6410 in Coins of Scotland, Ireland and the Islands.

A high proportion of the pennies struck in Ireland were exported over to England. This was a profitable exercise as most were underweight in comparison to their English counterparts. Irish pennies looked very similar to English coins, especially those that had a quatrefoil in the centre of the cross of the reverse. Leading on from this, detectorists should always get coins of Edward IV and Richard III checked out as rare Irish pennies can be worth a lot more than most English examples.

Valuation

The obverse of Neil’s penny is more than half flat and none of the legend is visible. The reverse is also half flat but the rest of it is quite decent.

I traced a similar Richard III Irish penny that was offered for sale at auction during 2021; the flan was small but coin was graded as VF and it failed to sell with a pre-sale estimate of £2,000-2,400. When offered up a second time the coin achieved a hammer price of £1,000. Another specimen, on a small flan but graded as good Fine with the king’s name visible, sold for a hammer price of £800.

Bearing in mind that this type of Irish penny of Richard III is not as rare as it used to be and the fact that the overall state of preservation of this specimen leaves a good deal to be desired, if I was cataloguing it for sale at auction my pre-sale estimate would be no higher than £600-800.

Valuation Service

If you would like your coin identified or valued, please read about my valuation service and contact me