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 Replies: 9 / Views: 1,758 |
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Pillar of the Community
 Australia
2567 Posts |
Just received this nice little coin in the mail. AUD$38.00 all up, by auction. Worn by the passing of the years, but still fairly legible. It's easily my oldest coin now. Loving this hobby now. 1689 James II Shilling - Irish Gun Money  The Ox moves slowly, but the Earth is patient.
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Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
18014 Posts |
Nice acquisition! I love the Gun Money coins! Such a fascinating period of British and Irish history...
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Pillar of the Community
 Australia
2567 Posts |
Thanks NumisRob.
Yes The little I read today about it is as you say, fascinating. I see that there are a lot of varieties, I saw three for the August 1689 alone.
I will be looking for more I think!
The Ox moves slowly, but the Earth is patient.
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Moderator
United States
189767 Posts |
Very nice!  |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Gun Money in the grades as shown in OP's example are surprisingly inexpensive to the collector,
despite their great historical and numismatic importance.
ttkoo: Now that you have a representative example of this series,
it would be well to acquire as much historical background knowledge as is easily possible.
Other examples of Gun Money should become available to you, (especially the Shilling and Halfcrown), sooner or later.
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Pillar of the Community
4628 Posts |
Great piece, I have always wanted some Gun Money, but never got around to getting it.
Stop me if you know this, but the coins were made out of melted down gun metal (Base Iron and Copper), and in 1694 they were devalued to about 2d in the shilling.
I think it was minted between May 1689 and Dec 1690 and mostly it was shillings and halfcrowns, but other denominations exist. It was used in Ireland, where forces friendly to James II were based. They were on the losing side at the Battle of Boyne in July 1690 and the siege of Limerick in May 1691. After that they pretty much (The Jacobites) went underground with two more attempts at overthrowing the British crown between 1715/19 and 1745/46 (Bonnie Prince Charlie).
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2567 Posts |
I would never stop you!lol
They have an intriguing history, of which I was ignorant until this last couple of weeks.
The fact that some guns were used was probably correct in part, but seems likely that mostly any scrap metal not nailed down got used, including bells and cannon.
Quite an effort was made to make the tokens as currency-like as possible to convince James troops that it was worth holding onto the tokens on the promise of being redeemed in silver after victory, even to the point of adding the month of mintage so the repayments could be made in order of issue.
The battles themselves seem to be largely held at stand off to each other, with the attrition of diseases and weather claiming more victims from each side than actual combat.
I could be miles from the truth but that is how I understand it at the moment
The Ox moves slowly, but the Earth is patient.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
ttkoo: I figured that you would get attracted into doing some research into the background of this very interesting series !  |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2567 Posts |
@sel_69I It was hard not to get pulled into the gun money rabbit hole. I was aware of a bit of the history of this period, but knew nothing of these "tokens" When I can get some proper spare time I intend to delve more deeply into it. Oh, and congrats on 20,000 posts, well done.! The Ox moves slowly, but the Earth is patient.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1164 Posts |
I need a couple of these.
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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,758 |
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Posted 09/19/2022 04:26 am
