Yes, you read that correctly. A massive €347,404,127 worth of old Irish banknotes and coins have yet to be handed in to the Central Bank of Ireland since the introduction of the Euro on 1st January 2002 – 18 years since the Euro Changeover! To be absolutely precise, that’s: €224,389,631.19 in old Irish bank notes…
The gunmoney of James II: August 1689 (timeline)
The introduction of the new ‘gunmoney’ sixpence in June was a qualified success for deposed King James II and he quickly moved to cash in even more when he ordered the issue of shillings and halfcrowns for July. The coin presses in Capel Street were in production 24 hours a day, with mint workers employed…
This was never going to be enough and the answer to James’s financial predicament came from a Protestant – William Bromfield, an English Quaker and one time surgeon who invented the world’s first ‘fiat’ currency based upon a promise to pay at a later date
Background It is generally agreed that the first coins used in Ireland for trade purposes were those imported by the Dublin vikings in the mid-10th C and that these coins comprised a mixture of mainly Anglo-Saxon, with some European and Islamic (Kufic) coins also turning up in hoards and single finds. However, one pound (240…
Introduction Prince John was the youngest of five sons of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and was not expected to inherit significant lands – hence his nickname John Lackland. Following the failed rebellion of his elder brothers between 1173 and 1174, however, John became Henry’s favourite child. In 1173 John’s elder…
Introduction Arabic, or Islamic, coins are frequently mentioned in the archaeological literature of the 19th and 20th centuries but there are few accounts that discuss these beautiful coins as a group – which probably reflects our preoccupation for coins with Latin inscriptions. They are found at many dig sites and their ‘deposition dates’ show a…
Introduction These pieces are nearly all rare, usually worn, and illustrations are hard to find – so, similar to my other Irish token guides, this is a “work in progress” and additional images will be added as and when I find them. They differ from the previous 17th C Tradesmens’ Farthings series insofar are they…
The St Patrick Halfpenny is thought to have been a ‘milled coin’ minted in the 17th century for use in Ireland, although there is evidence that later versions were minted in the American Colonies. Two sizes are available to collectors – large and small. Contrary to popular belief, the smaller coin is not a farthing…
![17th century Irish tradesmens' tokens - Dublin, Lazey Hill, Nic[holas] Delone, Penny](https://oldcurrencyexchange.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/dublin-lazey-hill-nicholas-delone-penny.jpg?w=220&h=126&crop=1)
Although manufactured and used over 350 years ago, many of these tokens were issued with pretty much the same form of English as we use nowadays, with a few notable exceptions to their alphabet and spelling, e.g. The letter “U” is always represented by the letter “V”, e.g. DVBLIN There was no letter “J” in…
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