Edward VI Irish shilling

Edward VI shilling were issued in Dublin in 1552, as shown by the MDLII in the legend. This issue continued the policy of his father, Henry VIII, of issuing debased coinage. When Elizabeth I came to power in 1558, she sought to restore confidence in the coinage by increasing the fineness. In 1561, these Irish shillings were countermarked with a greyhound to indicate that they had be revalued to 2¼d, an 81% reduction in value.

A distinguishing feature of these coins is that the lettering is very neat, due to the use of small letter punches. However, although the die was good, most of the coins were weakly struck. Hence, the auctioneer saying that this example is “in outstanding condition both for the type and for the countermark“.