Auction Date:2011 Apr 16 @ 13:00 (UTC+1)
Location:The Freemasons Hall - 17 Molesworth Street, Dublin, Dublin, ., Ireland
c1000BC: Bronze age Irish gold ring money
Provenance:
Found by Thomas Johnston, Cork, in the late 19th century, thence by descent.
Penannular double ring example of circular section with square-cut ends, from the Cork area. Weight 10.8 grams. Pre Christian Ireland had a very precise set of laws which usually involved a payment by the perpetrator of a crime to the victim or the victim's family. The punishment for default was death. The records of these laws (mostly dating from Christian era documents) state that slaves and cattle were an accepted medium of large exchange. Presumably smaller exchanges were made on a similar basis with tools and ornaments. There are a number of gold and gold plated rings found in Irish and other Celtic contexts referred to as 'ring money'. The variation in the quality and standard of these pieces does not suggest a fixed denomination but rather that these items were used like hack silver and assayed at every exchange. The gold plated pieces are a problem in this context as they do not seem to be likely to have been made in imitation of solid pieces nor would they have been easy to assay. Hoards of Irish Celtic gold ornaments often consist of quantities of cloak fasteners suggesting that these items were used as a medium of exchange rather than just for fastening cloaks. But as with the ring money there is no evidence for a fixed series of weights and measures being used in their manufacture. We are grateful to John Stafford Langan, www.irishcoinage.com, for this note.For other early coinage of Ireland including Viking silver pennies, see lots 468-474
Auction Location:
The Freemasons Hall - 17 Molesworth Street, Dublin, Dublin, ., Ireland
Previewing Details:
At our galleries
38 Molesworth Street
Dublin 2
Wednesday 13 April 10am to 6pm
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Buyer's Premiums:
| From (Incl.) | To (Excl.) | Premium |
| 0.00 |
Infinite |
20% |
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