"
To any one but the heartless profligate whose portrait occupied the
obverse of the medal, this appeal would have been irresistible, but it
does not appear that the unfortunate artist was relieved. He probably
died of grief and disappointment at the unjust preference shown to his
rival.
_James II_.--The base money struck by James the Second, in Ireland,
in 1689 and 1690, is common, except the crown of white metal, with the
figure of James on horseback. Some of his half-crowns and shillings were
struck of metal, the produce of old cannon, which were melted down for
the purpose, and are in consequence termed "gun money."
_Anne's Farthing_.--The common current farthing of Anne is scarce,
but scarcer with the broad rim. The patterns of 1713 and 1714 are rare,
but those with the reverse of Britannia under a kind of arch, or with
Peace in a car drawn by two horses, and the legend PAX MISSA PER ORBEM,
are the scarcest of all.
At a public sale of the coins of the late Mr. Dimsdale, the banker,
the Oxford crown with the city under the horse, was knocked down at
sixty-nine pounds. At the same time the rial of Mary brought sixty-three
pounds, and the rial of Elizabeth twenty-one pounds ten shillings.
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