In 1971, Ireland decimalised its currency in parallel with the UK. We did this because we were tied to the UK Pound at that time and one of the more unusual aspects of decimalisation was that both countries adopted a ‘non-decimal’ fraction of the basic unit (100 new pence = one pound), i.e. a decimal…
It may come as a bit of a surprise to many that although Celtic coins have not (yet) been discovered in Ireland, there have been a lot of Roman and Anglo-Saxon coins found – especially the latter. Conservative Irish historians have always said the Romans never got here but they rarely even mention the Anglo-Saxons…
In order to understand the ‘situation’ of the Irish Celts and, therefore, theorize as to “why they did not produce coins like their English cousins”, we first need to understand the situation of the English Celtic tribes. By the 2nd century BC (the Late Iron Age in Britain) the locals were trading iron “currency bars”…
Introduction The late 18th century is a complicated time from the perspective of collecting tokens insofar as several dealers began to manufacture their own tokens for collectors, i.e. these did not circulate. They doubled and tripled their profits by deliberately producing mules, i.e. mis-matching obverse and reverse dies. They then increased their profits further by…
A simple chronological listing of Irish trade tokens during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). This list will be expanded as and when I find new tokens to add. Tokens appear in alphabetical order, within year Since not all large towns or even all counties are represented by Victorian trade tokens, it is pointless to…
Introduction The 1943 florin is the rarest ‘modern’ Irish coin to have actually circulated. The 1985 Irish 20p was not intended to circulate The 1992 Irish 10p was not intended to circulate Both of the coins listed above were minted for only testing purposes, i.e. to calibrate vending machines and they were supposed to have…
William Wood was the owner of several copper and tin mines in England and he hoped to make a large profit via the production of coins for use in Ireland and America. During the first half of 1722 King George I’s mistress (who had followed him over from Germany), the Duchess of Kendal, obtained a…
The shilling (often written as 1s or 1/-) coin was a sub-division of the pre-decimal Irish pound, and was worth 1/20th of a pound. The original issue of the coin from 1928 until 1942 contained 75% silver; thus this Irish coin had a higher content than the equivalent British coin. These earlier coins were noticeably different…
The ‘chickless’ variety is probably a die flaw caused by normal ‘wear and tear’ on the dies during the minting process. This variety has become very popular with collectors over the past decade and some claim to have evidence of “progressive wear across several examples of 1968 pennies” leading to a chickless coin. The most…
The 1961 ‘mule’ halfcrown was struck in error (or, possibly deliberately) from a reverse die from the 1928-37 type. In 1938 the halfcrown reverse – the side with the horse on it – had been redesigned to improve the striking characteristics of the coin. A single example of the 1938 trial of the new die…
The Old Currency Exchange is a specialist dealer and valuer of Irish & GB coins, tokens and banknotes 