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…
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…
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…
This is a selected biography of this complex international conflict – sometimes known as the War of the Three Kingdoms. But it was much more than a war – it was a battle for the hearts and minds of the people that lived and worked in these three very different kingdoms. It began with a…
Timeline 1643 (Julian dates have been adjusted to modern time frame) (Early January) Colonel Ruthven bombards Saltash on the Cornish side of the River Tamar but is unable to capture the town January 2 Petition from the Common Council of the City of London presented to the King at Oxford requesting his return to Westminster…
Timeline 1642 (Julian dates have been adjusted to modern time frame) Although the depositions of 1641 have since been proven exaggerated at best or, at worst, false – they were designed to provoke a sensational response from the Parliament in London. By 1642, Owen Roe O’Neill had reigned in the worst sectarian elements in Ulster…
Timeline 1640 (Julian dates have been adjusted to modern time frame) The Irish Uprising of 1641 was a long-term result of the “plantation” policy of Tudor and Stuart monarchs under which Ireland was aggressively colonised by Protestant settlers from England and Scotland. From the mid-16th century, Irish landowners were dispossessed to make way for the settlers…
Timeline 1641 (Julian dates have been adjusted to modern time frame) The key events of 1641 were: The Trial and execution of Strafford Imprisonment of Archbishop Laud The Triennial Act The Irish Uprising The Grand Remonstrance From an Irish perspective, the key figure was James FitzThomas Butler, then 12th Earl of Ormond and Commander of the…
The Old Currency Exchange is a specialist dealer and valuer of Irish & GB coins, tokens and banknotes 