The new Irish coin designs, first minted in 1928 attracted a lot of media attention at home. This is well documented and most Irish coin collectors have read the various contemporary and more recent articles on this topic. What is less well known is how we influenced coin design abroad. The much deserved winner of…
The five pence (5p) coin (Irish: cúig phingin) was a sub-division of the Irish pound. It was introduced in Ireland on Decimal Day, 15th February 1971 and re-used the design on the shilling coin first produced for the Irish Free State in 1928. Due to the similarity in size and weight, many of the old shillings…
Kosovo is a fertile region lying just to the northeast of Albania, in central former Yugoslavia. It is one of the earliest settlements by the Slavic people who later became the Serb nation – one of the reasons the hard-line nationalists in Serbia were so determined to include it as part of a Greater Serbia during…
The Kingdom of Montenegro (Serbian: Краљевина Црнa Горa / Kraljevina Crna Gora), was a monarchy in southeastern Europe during the tumultuous years on the Balkan Peninsula leading up to and during The Great War (WW1). Legally it was a constitutional monarchy, but absolutist in practice Prince Nicholas of Montenegro, in 1906, issued coins in denominations…
In 1971, Ireland decimalised its currency in parallel with the UK. We did this because we were tied to the UK Pound at that time and, of course, all of our coins were minted at the Royal Mint in the UK. Decimalisation also brought all of our coins back in line with the UK coin…
The florin (2s or 2/-) coin was a sub-division of the pre-decimal Irish pound, worth 1/10 of a pound. It was more commonly known as the two-shilling coin. The reverse design featuring a salmon was by English artist Percy Metcalfe. The obverse featured the Irish harp. From 1928 to 1937 the date was split either…
The half-crown (2s6d or 2/6) coin was a subdivision of the pre-decimal Irish pound, worth 1/8 of a pound. The halfcrown was commonly called “two and six” due to its value of two shillings and sixpence (indicated on the coin itself as ‘2s6d’). For almost half a century it was the largest circulating Irish coin…
The 1961 ‘mule’ halfcrown was struck in error (or, possibly deliberately) from a reverse die from the 1928-37 type. In 1938 the halfcrown reverse – the side with the horse on it – had been redesigned to improve the striking characteristics of the coin. A single example of the 1938 trial of the new die…
The sixpence (6d) (Irish: reul) coin was a sub-division of the pre-decimal Irish pound, worth 1/40 of a pound or ½ of a shilling. It ‘nickname’ was a ‘tanner’ and it is thought that this is from John Sigismund Tanner, originally from Saxe-Coburg, who was a medallist and designer at the Royal Mint. The sixpence he designed for George II…
The penny (1d) (Irish: pingin) coin was the third smallest denomination of the pre-decimal Irish pound. There were 12 to a shilling, 24 to a florin and 240 to a pound. To express an amount, penny was abbreviated to “d”, e.g. shortened from dwt, or pennyweight. The penny is one of the longest circulating coin denominations in Europe –…
The Old Currency Exchange is a specialist dealer and valuer of Irish & GB coins, tokens and banknotes 