NEW BOOK: GUNMONEY

GUNMONEY: THE EMERGENCY COINAGE OF 1689-1691 FOR THE IRISH CAMPAIGN OF JAMES II
Philip Timmins

The Numismatic Society of Ireland is pleased to announce the publication of this new book: GUNMONEY: THE EMERGENCY COINAGE OF 1689-1691 FOR THE IRISH CAMPAIGN OF JAMES II

Written by NSI member Philip Timmins this important book brings together the years of his study of this uniquely Irish coinage. GUNMONEY is a scholarly publication written for collectors, dealers and students of Irish numismatics. Every denomination that was struck is listed as is every variety, and the book is extensively illustrated. Some varieties have never been published before.

The book is set out month by month, each of which begins with an account of the state of the warring kings’ campaigns. For each month this is followed by details of Gunmoney production matters at the striking mints and its acceptance and use throughout Ireland are clarified.

The accounts of the state of the campaigns build to a general history of the Irish campaign of James II and at the same time they provide the numismatist with a context for striking Gunmoney. Coin sheets follow these war diary accounts and the coin sheets fully describe and illustrate all of the denominations struck in that month. A table of varieties sets out weight, edge type, orientation, reference number, diameter, denomination, month date, rarity and includes remarks about metal used, errors, and details of off-metal or restrike coins.

Gunmoney was struck at mints in Dublin and Limerick and varieties struck at each mint are identified. There are sections on the white metal coinage and on the Hibernia coins of Limerick. This is an important book about Irish numismatics and it comprehensively addresses the Gunmoney series in a way never done before. For easy reference the book includes a comprehensive index.

Philip Timmins was born in England and after qualifying as an engineer his professional career enabled him to travel worldwide while working in the printing and television industries. He is now retired and has settled in Ireland.

Philip has been interested in numismatics since his early 20s and for the past decade or so he has been studying and researching the Irish Gunmoney coinage. Over the years he has assembled a database of descriptions and illustrations of over 1350 specimens which includes all the varieties in the book. During his research he has had access to important museum collections in order to take photographs and to verify details. It was while on such a visit to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge that he lamented to Martin Allen that there was no significant reference book to the Gunmoney series that he could refer to. Martin replied, “Well, why don’t you write one”. So began the formal research journey, and the comprehensive bibliography in the book is indicative of the extent of the research and how far and rewarding the journey has been.

Illustrations
The book is extensively illustrated and all of the images are enlarged. The obverse images are all scaled relative to each denomination size and the reverse images fully illustrate the different reverse variants.

Description
Full colour hardback; viii; 148p; 178x252mm; ISBN 9780902605039. This edition is traditionally lithograph printed in Dublin on 130gsm gloss paper in full colour, thread stitched and hardbound by a Dublin antiquarian bookbinder with buckram cloth finish and gold lettering.

Citation
TIMMINS, P. (2017) GUNMONEY: The emergency coinage of 1689- 1691 for the Irish campaign of James II, Numismatic Society of Ireland, Dublin.

GUNMONEY: The emergency coinage of 1689-1691 for the Irish campaign of James II is recommended as an essential reference for all Irish numismatics libraries.

Ordering
The publication price of the book is £40.00.

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