3 Pence - Edward VI Henry VIII bust

Edward VI inherited his father's debasement policy along with the throne, and Ireland bore the worst of it. The Irish mint at Dublin was used deliberately to absorb the most debased alloys — billon so degraded it barely qualified as silver — while the English public received marginally better coin. This piece was struck with a portrait of Henry VIII despite Edward VI being the reigning king, a cynical continuity meant to exploit lingering confidence in the previous reign's coinage among Irish users already accustomed to suspicion of the mint.