1723 Farth Hibernia DEI.GRATIA Colonial Cent 1c Grades xf+. William Wood, owner of several copper and tin mines, hoped to make a profit producing coins for use in Ireland and America. During the first half of 1722 the king's mistress, the Duchess of Kendal, obtained a patent from the Earl of Sunderland for coining copper money for Ireland. Wood thought this would be a profitable enterprise so he purchased the royal patent from the duchess for £10,000. In his indenture from George I dated June 16, 1722 Wood was authorized to produce up to 360 tons of halfpence and farthings for Ireland at 30 pence to the pound over a period of fourteen years for an annual fee of £800 paid to the king. These Hibernia coins were heavier and thus intrinsically more valuable than the coppers then circulating in Ireland. They were certainly less profitable for Wood to mint than his lighter weight Rosa Americana issues. (Hibernia's weighed sixty halfpence to the pound as compared to 120 Rosa Americana halfpence to the pound!). When including the costs of production and the £10,000 fee paid to the Duchess of Kendal, Mossman has calculated Wood would have lost £4,871 over the fourteen years of the patent. Thus from Wood's standpoint the Hibernia coin specifications were too generous based on the cost of production.It has generally been held that the Irish did not accept the Hibernia coppers. However, Danforth has recently suggested that the coins were accepted at first but over time the Irish regected the coins. Danforth believes the coins continued in use until 1737 when they were replaced by regal Irish coppers. Others have suggested the Irish refused to use the coinage on nationalistic grounds and that they relied on other coppers (which included the Saint Patrick coppers). What they needed was silver coinage of sixpence, shillings, half crowns and crowns, which the English were not willing to export. Jonathan Swift led the Irish attack on the English coinage in his publication of The Drapier's Letter in which he accused Wood of profiteering. The protests of Swift and other Irish intellectuals is usually taken as the reason that Wood quit the project within three years; very few Wood's Hibernias have been uncovered in Ireland.