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: 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: 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…
Introduction When James II succeeded his father in 1685, he continued to issue copper halfpennies, albeit via a ‘patent’ like his father did before him. This maintained the flow of small change but the same ‘decades old’ problem persisted with the large proportion of under-weight ‘clipped’ silver in circulation. This might have sufficed for transactions…
The Old Currency Exchange is a specialist dealer and valuer of Irish & GB coins, tokens and banknotes 