19/06/2026
For this Ulster Finds Friday, we will be looking at a coin hoard from County Antrim!
On 24 October 1972, W.A. Seaby and Prof. E. Estyn Evans went to Galgorm Castle to visit Mrs. A.H. (O’Neill) Chichester, who was in possession of 6 silver coins dating to the reign of Mary Queen of Scots. All Mrs. Chichester knew was that they had come into the possession of her mother Mary Macnaghten before her marriage in 1893, and that either Mary or someone else had discovered them in the Giant’s Causeway’s vicinity. The Macnaghten family owned a large estate at Dundarave, Bushmills, 3 miles from the causeway, so it could be that a labourer had given the family the coins. Given the condition of the coins, Seaby theorised that the coins may have been hidden 2-3 years after the last coin had been minted in 1561.
-Coin 1: Dating to 1556, this coin was dated to before Mary Queen of Scots’ marriage to the Dauphin Francis (later Francis II of France). It is a Testoon Type III. One side shows a crowned shield between an ‘M’ and ‘R’ and the word ‘REGINA.’ The other side is a cross potent with a cross at each angle and the words ‘IN VIRTVTE TVA LIBERA ME 1556.’ It weighed 5.895 grams or 91.0 grains.
-Coin 2: Dating to 1558, it is almost identical to Coin 1 but has a wider crown above the shield. It weighed 6.076 grams or 93.6 grains.
-Coin 3: Undated but also almost identical to Coins 1 and 2 except for the pellets around the cross on one side of the coin. It weighed 5.960 grams or 91.9 grains.
-Coin 4: A 1559 coin minted during Mary Queen of Scots’ marriage to the Dauphin Francis. It is a Testoon First Issue. One side has a crowned shield of the Dauphin and Scotland on a cross potent with the words ‘DEI G.’. The other side is a crowned ‘FM’ monogram with the Lorraine Cross on either side and the words ‘FECIT VTRAQUE VNVM 1559.’ It weighed 6.090 grams or 94.0 grains.
-Coin 5: A 1560 coin also minted during Mary and Francis’ marriage after they became King and Queen of France. It is a Testoon Second Issue. One side has a crowned shield of France impaling Scotland between a cross and a saltire. On the other side are the words ‘VICIT LEO DE TRIBV IVDA 1560’ and has a crowned ‘FM’ between a crowned lis and a crowned thistle. It weighed 6.045 grams or 93.2 grains.
-Coin 6: This is a 1561 Testoon coin minted during Mary’s widowhood after the death of Franics II. One side has an uncrowned profile bust of Mary Queen of Scots. The other side has the words ‘SALVM FAC POPVLM (sic) TVVM DOMINE’ and a crowned shield of France impaling Scotland between crowned M on both sides with a plain cross above the crown. It weighed 6.085 grams or 93.9 grains.
If you would like to learn more about these coins, read the article ‘A Small Hoard of Mary Queen of Scots Coins from Co. Antrim’ by W.A. Seaby in the Ulster Journal of Archaeology Third Series Volume 35 (1972) pages 45-47 on JSTOR at https://www.jstor.org/stable/20567710.
Remember all UJAs up until 2022 can be read *for free* on JSTOR at https://www.jstor.org/journal/ulstjarch.
Have a great weekend!
