Irish Gunmoney Type Set, Circulation Strikes (1689-1690)

James II was crowned in Westminster Abbey on 23 April 1685, who was a practicing Catholic, and his faith was on a collision course with the English Parliament. His daughter Mary, a Protestant was next in line for the throne, and therefore James II was tolerated. However, when James II had a son, who was also a Catholic, the predecessor to the throne changed to the new born son. The politicians had tolerated enough and requested William of Orange "invade" England. When William arrived in England on November 15th 1688, King James’s officers joined William, and James dared not to engage his weakened army into battle. Louis XIV had offered military assistance to James but he declined. Mary, who was James’s daughter, and married to William was the heiress to the throne. James fled the throne of England and went into exile to France on December 23rd 1688. On February 12th 1689, England declared James II abdicated the throne, offering the monarchy to William and Mary, who became King and Queen respectively. In March 1689, James II landed in Ireland and Parliament made him King of Ireland. Gunmoney was introduced to Ireland between 1689 to 1690 by James II who was the former King of England. In an attempt to regain the English throne, the king had to pay his newly formed army to support his strategic endeavors. James II introduced token coinage consisting of base metals obtained from scrap items such as old church bells, fencing, broken cannons and guns. Though many different objects were used to mint this type of coinage, the name “Gunmoney” was derived from one of the objects used for coinage; which was the gun. This early use of clad coinage is similar to the clad coinage we use today. Denominations included in the series were the sixpence, shilling, halfcrown, and crown. An interesting factoid about Gunmoney is that not only is it dated, but each coin displays the correlating month when it was minted. The standard calendar used in most parts of the world today consists of a 12-month year and is known as the Gregorian calendar. Dating for Gunmoney was based on the Roman calendar. In 753 BC, Romulus became the first king of Rome and is credited with the invention of the Roman calendar. The New Year started with the month of March and ended in December, and one year consisted of 10 months. January and February were not inclusive in this dating system as they are in the present-day calendar. Denominations included in the series were the sixpence, shilling, halfcrown, and crown. If James II regained the throne of England, he promised to redeem Gunmoney in the form of silver. James II most likely wanted the redemption to occur in an orderly fashion, thwarting any attempts for a “run” on the bank that would usurp silver supplies quickly. Hence the dating system and proposed redemptions would have started with coins dated 1689 March and ending in the summer of 1690. Unfortunately, James II was not successful in his campaign to regain the throne and Gunmoney became worthless. However, these coins provide unique numismatic history for us to reminisce and potentially discuss. Hoards of Irish Gunmoney are still being unearthed in present day Ireland and strict laws apply to each new discovery. Building a complete date set will certainly challenge our members. Best of luck building your sets. written by Jim Gately and Sanjay C. Gandhi. Google, Wikipedia, and Encyclopedia Britannica were are all cited as references pertaining to most of the historical information noted above.