Date: c. 1649-1672 Description: Richard Greenwood’s penny token is one of my favourite designs from this series because the obverse design is tantalisingly close to that of the so-called St Patrick’s Farthing – first minted in Dublin and then later minted in the American Colonies – both by persons unknown. Two types are known –…
Date: c. 1654 Description: 1654 George Linington’s Penny Token Weight 2.0g Ref: W.145 Almost Very Fine (aVF) Extremely rare Obverse: Centre design: Initials & Date, “P L over G . M.” “1654” below Reverse: Legend: “IN WEX FORD” Further Reading: O’Brien Coin Guide: The Proliferation of Unofficial Irish ‘Farthing Tokens’ in the 17th Century…
Date: c. 1650-80 Description: Edmond Kearney’s Penny Token (Cashel, Co Tipperary) Weight 2.11g Williamson 145 Scarce Obverse: Centre design: A plain cross with a pellet in each quarter. Outer legend: “EDMOND . KEARNEY” Reverse: Centre design: Initials & denomination “D” over “E . K.” over “1” with four small annulets Legend: “CASHELL . MARCT” Additional…
Date: 1679 Description: Thomas Linch’s trade halfpenny Weight 3.61g Williamson 574 Very rare Obverse: Centre design: A winged bull (Crest of the Limerick Butchers’ Company) Outer legend: “THO . LINCH . OF . LIMRICK.” Reverse: Centre design: Harp Legend: HIS . HALF . PENY . TOKEN . 1679. Further Reading: Like Dublin, Limerick had its…
Date: 1664 The habit of coffee drinking first became popular in Europe about the middle of the 17th century. Soon, special rooms were established for the consumption of the new beverage. Debate surrounds the date of the first coffee house in England, the Angel in Oxford is considered first by some historians, set up about…
Proclamation of Charles II, Issued 16 August 1672 Making Current the Royal Farthings and Halfpennys and Forbidding the Use of All Others By the King. A Proclamation for making currant His Majestie’s Farthings and Half-pence of Copper, and forbidding all others to be used. Charles R. Whereas of late years several Persons and Corporations, upon…
Proclamation of Charles II, issued 5th December 1674 Enjoining the Prosecution of Persons making or uttering farthings, half-pence, or pence of brass with private stamps By the King. A Proclamation enjoining the prosecution of all such persons as shall make or utter any farthings, half-pence, or pence of brass, or utter base metals with…
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…
Dublin in the 1650’s Dublin City in the 1650’s was a very different place to that we all know and love today. It was a walled city – with heavily fortified gates at intervals along its perimeter. In 1649, with a Royalist army encamped in the grassy expanse surrounding Rathmines Castle, the Parliamentary commander of…
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 Old Currency Exchange is a specialist dealer and valuer of Irish & GB coins, tokens and banknotes 