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 mathematical aspects of decimalisation was that both countries set the conversion rate for the new penny at 2 or 3 old pennies. One new…
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…
In 1722, the ‘hardware’ manufacturer William Wood was granted a patent to produce copper coins to the maximum cash value of up to £108,000 for use in Ireland. At 48 farthings or 24 halfpennies to one silver shilling, this was a lot of ‘loose change’ At 960 farthings or 480 halfpennies to the pound, £108,000 was…
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 first locally produced Irish coinage was the so-called Hiberno-Norse coinage which was first minted in Dublin in about 995-7 AD under the authority of Sihtric III (aka Sihtric Silkenbeard), the Norse King of Dublin. There is no evidence for the native Irish producing coins before this, so it is likely that their economy was not coin-based. The…
The penny (1d) (Irish: pingin) coin was the third smallest denomination of the pre-decimal Irish pound. There were 12 to a shilling, 24 to a florin and 240 to a pound. To express an amount, penny was abbreviated to “d”, e.g. shortened from dwt, or pennyweight. The penny is one of the longest circulating coin denominations in Europe –…
In 1937, a new constitution declaring Ireland a free state was established and the old designs for the coins of Ireland that featured the legend “Saorstat Eireann” or Irish Free State were changed to “Eire” to reflect the new constitution. The only known 1938 coins to feature that revised legend are: one halfcrown (currently unique…
The 1933 British Penny is, perhaps, one of the most famous coin rarities in the English-speaking world today – allegedly only seven coins were minted – specifically for the king to lay under the foundation stones of new buildings. So why do so many people claim to have a 1933 penny on their possession or to…
One of the most asked questions relating to hammered coins is “how are they made?” Rather than go into a long speech about how it was done, perhaps it is best if I leave this to the experts …. Dave Greenhalgh (Cosmeston Medieval Village) & Barrie Cook (Curator of Medieval Coins, British Museum) Dave reckons…
The Old Currency Exchange is a specialist dealer and valuer of Irish & GB coins, tokens and banknotes 