Background: Edward VII’s reign was short and, from a numismatic viewpoint, relatively uneventful. He embarked on a goodwill tour (Royal Visit) of Ireland in 1902 and, despite the good press he received, Irish nationalism continued to grow. His bronze halfpennies were a continuation of Victorian designs, although the numbers minted were considerably higher than in…
Background: George V’s reign was a turbulent one for Ireland and a very exciting for Irish numismatics – the highlight being a new Irish currency in 1928. After independence, Ireland continued to use GB & Ireland coins and banknotes. Despite the popularity of the new Irish currency, the coinage of GB & Northern Ireland persisted…
Background: Unlike the pennies of Elizabeth II, British trade & commerce demanded a constant production of halfpennies from 1953 forward. Production increased from approx. 9 million in 1953 to an average of c. 50 million per year by the 1960s. In preparation for decimalisation in 1971, 146 million halfpennies were minted in 1967. All of…
Introduction: The GB & Ireland “Edward VII” pennies are an easy series to collect as there is only one major variety (the 1902 low tide) and that too is not exactly scarce. As with all of the earlier GB & Ireland bronzes, the highest grades command a significant premium and the coins in the lower…
Background: George VI’s reign included the economically disastrous Word War II which culminated in his overseeing the dismantling of the British Empire to the point where it had to be transformed into a weaker / less cohesive British Commonwealth. The biggest loss was the independence and breakup of India into three nation states – India,…
Background The bronze Coinage of Queen Victoria was introduced in the year 1860, to replace the copper coinage first inaugurated by Charles II in 1672. This new alloy for coinage had several advantages over the old copper coins:- it was lighter, cheaper and had greater hardness / durability But bronze is not as easy to…
Background: Victoria, at that time, was the longest serving British monarch in history, so her son Edward was an old man by the time he succeeded her. Not a lot happened in terms of numismatic innovation during his short reign but it is, perhaps, worth mentioning that James Joyce had a few things to say…
Background: After the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922, UK currency remained the formal currency of the Irish Free State until 1928. After this date, UK coins continued to circulate alongside the Irish coins right up until Decimalisation (1971) and well into the 1970s. Irish Free State farthings were minted in London by…
Background: Edward VIII advised the Royal Mint that he wanted a modern coinage to reflect a modern Britain but, after his abdication, it was his younger brother (George VI) who inherited his new designs – the first of which was the farthing. A European Wren replaced Britannia on the reverse. This bird motif was similar…
Background: By the 1950s, the farthing had pretty much lost its spending power and there were calls for its withdrawal. An average of 20 million farthings per year were produced during the reign of George VI but inflation made these coins virtually obsolete during Elizabeth’s early reign. The Royal Mint stopped producing them in 1956…
The Old Currency Exchange is a specialist dealer and valuer of Irish & GB coins, tokens and banknotes 