Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Electronic Auction 528 30 Nov 2022
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IRELAND. Edward IV. First reign, 1461-1470. AR Groat (25mm, 1.99 g, 5h). Light 'Cross and Pellets' coinage. Dublin mint; im: pierced cross fitchée/-; Germyn Lynch, moneyer. Struck 1472-1478(?). Crowned facing bust; G on breast, annulets flanking neck; all within tressure of arches, with annulet in upper two spandrels / Long cross pattée, with two pellets and rosette in first and third quarters and triple pellets in second and fourth quarters. SCBC 6334. Toned, areas of weak strike, a few light scratches. VF.
The moneyer for this issue has been the subject of great prosopographical interest among historians, as "...it is most unusual to be able to trace for over forty years the fate and fortunes of a common man in late medieval Ireland." Germyn Lynch, who flourished in the mid-late 15th century, is recorded as having served as a goldsmith, freeman and alderman of London, shipmaster, and, most importantly numismatically, Master of the Irish mints, a post from which he was interestingly dismissed five times on account of making lightweight coins, such as the issue above. In Timothy O'Neill's work, A Fifteenth Century Entrepreneur Germyn Lynch fl. 1441-1483 in Settlement and Society in Medieval Ireland, the author writes that, "...if such variety can be glimpsed from the scattering of references ... the full life history of Germyn Lynch ... would surely equal the most exciting imaginings of any writer of historical novels."
The moneyer for this issue has been the subject of great prosopographical interest among historians, as "...it is most unusual to be able to trace for over forty years the fate and fortunes of a common man in late medieval Ireland." Germyn Lynch, who flourished in the mid-late 15th century, is recorded as having served as a goldsmith, freeman and alderman of London, shipmaster, and, most importantly numismatically, Master of the Irish mints, a post from which he was interestingly dismissed five times on account of making lightweight coins, such as the issue above. In Timothy O'Neill's work, A Fifteenth Century Entrepreneur Germyn Lynch fl. 1441-1483 in Settlement and Society in Medieval Ireland, the author writes that, "...if such variety can be glimpsed from the scattering of references ... the full life history of Germyn Lynch ... would surely equal the most exciting imaginings of any writer of historical novels."