Long before the introduction of struck coinage into ancient Celtic Europe, copper and gold rings were used as currency by Celtic tribes and were often worn on clothing or tied together by ropes. These particular rings, often referred to as “proto-currency”, were created in ancient Moesia (now Bulgaria) as long ago as 7th century BC.…
In order to understand the ‘situation’ of the Irish Celts and, therefore, theorize as to “why they did not produce coins like their English cousins”, we first need to understand the situation of the English Celtic tribes. By the 2nd century BC (the Late Iron Age in Britain) the locals were trading iron “currency bars”…
Celtic coinage is the most intriguing and varied of all the British coins since no one knows specifically for whom, when or where they were produced. To date, over 45,000 of ancient British and Gaulish coins have been discovered in Britain and all of these have been recorded at the Oxford Celtic Coin Index, but…
Introduction The late 18th century is a complicated time from the perspective of collecting tokens insofar as several dealers began to manufacture their own tokens for collectors, i.e. these did not circulate. They doubled and tripled their profits by deliberately producing mules, i.e. mis-matching obverse and reverse dies. They then increased their profits further by…
By 1760 small copper coins were scarce in Ireland. No royal Irish farthings had been issued since 1744 No royal Irish halfpennies had been issued since 1755 Issues of both denominations were scheduled to be minted in 1760 but apparently they did not arrive in Ireland until 1762. It has been speculated this was partly due…
A simple chronological listing of Irish trade tokens during the reign of King William IV (1830-37). This list will be expanded as and when I find new tokens to add. Tokens appear in alphabetical order, within year Since not all large towns or even all counties are represented by Victorian trade tokens, it is pointless…
A simple chronological listing of Irish trade tokens during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). This list will be expanded as and when I find new tokens to add. Tokens appear in alphabetical order, within year Since not all large towns or even all counties are represented by Victorian trade tokens, it is pointless to…
Upon his restoration to the crown in 1660, King Charles II granted a patent to Sir Thomas Armstrong to ‘coin farthings’ for the next twenty years and all other (unofficial) farthings were to be prohibited. In 1661, two royal proclamations were issued prohibiting the issuing and use of brass or copper tokens In 1662,…
George Augustus was King of Great Britain & Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11th June 1727 until his death on 25th October 1760. Both of George’s parents committed adultery In 1694 their marriage was dissolved on the pretext that Sophia had abandoned her husband She was confined to Ahlden House and…
The Old Currency Exchange is a specialist dealer and valuer of Irish & GB coins, tokens and banknotes 