THE  OOIHAGE  OF THE  REIGN OF EDWARD IV,     153
name of Henry and the substitution of that of Edward.
The new gold pieces also had the same object in view.
Although the time-honoured design of the king In the
ship was still retained, probably owing to its introduction
by Edward III, strikingly new attributes were added.
The large rose on the side of the ship and the banner
with large & upon it on the obverse, and the sun in
splendour with the rose upon it on the reverse, were
objects well calculated to strike the imagination in those
days, and to aid in impressing the people with the idea
of the complete triumph of the house of York in the
person of their present king. Edward's personal
cognizance of the sun in splendour was now for the
first time introduced on the coins, although, as we have
seen, it had already been a feature on Ms great seal
for several years. In a short time it was destined,
temporarily at least, to entirely supplant the rose on
the silver pieces. The large coinage commenced in
1465 found the rose mint-mark still in complete
possession as the sole mint-mark, but it cannot have
been retained for very long, as groats are the only coins
on which it is common, and even these are less so than
those with most of the subsequent mint-marks. Byals
with the rose mint-mark alone are decidedly rare. There
is a specimen in the British Museum of neat work and
carefully struck with the mint-mark on the reverse only,
which now became the more usual custom. This coin
reads on the obverse, QDW7IRD ^x DI £ SB7T * E6CX *
7SR6L' ^A $ FBTCna * DOS' I ^A B. In the curious render-
ing of the Irish title we have the earliest example of the
omission of the f], which became usual from this time
until the reign of Henry VIII [PL XL 1].
The design mainly differs from the previous nobles in
VOL. IX., SERIES IV.	M