Introduction: This post is a continuation of the research work done by Derek Young and Prof. G.F. Mitchell – first published in the Irish Numismatics magazine. Sadly, this excellent magazine is no longer available and quite difficult to source. The information in this post relates to ‘minting errors’ on Irish pre-decimal florins. According to a…
Introduction: The idea of a separate currency goes back to the sitting of the First Dáil Éireann in 1919 as this newly declared independent parliament declared its intention to govern all 32 counties of Ireland. Many Irish politicians declared that they wanted a completely independent republic – as called for in various speeches in the…
Introduction: This post is a continuation of the research work done by Derek Young and Prof. G.F. Mitchell – first published in the Irish Numismatics magazine. Sadly, this excellent magazine is no longer available and quite difficult to source. The information in this post relates to ‘minting errors’ on Irish pre-decimal pennies. According to a…
Date: 1927 Description: Country: Ireland Category: Irish Free State / Saorstát Éireann Pattern Notes: This is a ‘pattern’ coin entered by the Roman sculptor Publio Morbiducci (1889-1963) for the competition to design Ireland’s new money in 1928. Although unsuccessful, Morbiducci’s designs are considered to be some of the finest in terms of their classical Italianate…
For many collectors the topic of coin grading is a vexing one – it often seems so subjective and inconsistent. Of course, the most common and obvious targets for their ire are the dealers and auctioneers who, by way of describing their wares, are forced to commit their opinions of grade to paper. No ‘absolute’…
Introduction In 1926, the Minister for Finance set up a special committee of persons with artistic knowledge to advise on the designs and he chose Senator W. B. Yeats to chair it. At the first meeting of the committee, on the 17th June 1926, Joseph Brennan (at that time Secretary to the Department of Finance and later Chairman…
Caveat emptor Coin forgers have been with us for over a thousand years but this crime is no longer punishable in the medieval way, e.g. in the “Purge of the Moneyers” by Henry I at Christmas 1124, all of the English moneyers were summoned to Winchester, where most of them were castrated and had the…
The fifty pence (50p) (Irish: caoga pingin) coin was a subdivision of the Irish pound. It was introduced in Ireland on 17 February 1970 – a year before Decimal Day. It replaced the ten shilling note when decimalised, albeit it could be argued that it also replaced the by then ‘elusive’ ten shilling coin (minted in…
The twenty pence (20p) (Irish: fiche pingin) coin was a subdivision of the Irish pound. It was introduced on 30th October 1986 and was first Irish decimal coin that was of a different size to the corresponding British coin. Its last issue was in 2000, two years before Ireland withdrew its pound for the euro. It…
The tenpence (10p) (Irish: deich pingin) 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 florin coin first produced for the Irish Free State in 1928. Due to the similarity in size and weight, many of the old florin coins remained…
The Old Currency Exchange is a specialist dealer and valuer of Irish & GB coins, tokens and banknotes 