Date: 1827 Description: 1827 Hibernian Bank Thirty Shillings Token, Type 1 (no ‘promissory’ text). Manually dated ‘1 February 1827’ and numbered ‘3554’. Countersigned front and back Cancelled with ink ‘x’ over clerk and cashier’s signatures A rare early paper note Obverse: Design comprises two vignettes, one to the left of Hibernia seated with a harp…
Date: 1601-02 Description: Country: Ireland Category: Anglo-Irish House of Tudor Elizabeth I Third Irish Coinage (debased silver & copper pennies/halfpennies) Tower of London Mint Hammered Notes: The coins are known as Irish pennies. The English minted them in 1601 and 1602 and tried to introduce them as currency in Ireland, however the Irish rejected…
Date: 1679 Description: Country: Ireland Category: Charles II Token Notes: This token is interesting for a number of reasons: It was issued after the last proclamation of Charles II banning the use of such tokens. Prior to this issue, it was not uncommon for city mayors to issue tokens in their own name, though not…
Introduction: Perhaps one of the most dispicable practises of the so-called landlord classes in Ireland (and elsewhere) was the ‘truck’ system whereby employees were sometimes partly paid in ‘Truck’ Tokens, spendable only in the issuer’s own shops, where prices were generally higher than elsewhere. The word truck is derived from the French troquer, meaning to “exchange” or “barter”…
The gunmoney of James II: August 1689 (timeline)
2016 Market Values The coinage of George II is reasonably easy to find in the lower grades but a substantial premium is paid for higher grade coins – which are not easy to obtain. Last year, we saw steep price increases at auction for proofs and regular issues in Extremely Fine (EF) and Uncirculated grades.…
Introduction These items are unusual insofar as they fall into several categories, i.e. coin tokens, unofficial notes. Either way, they are ‘para-numismatic’ items and are also collected by those interested in militaria, republican memorabilia and banknotes. They were produced for use in the Ballykinlar Internment Camp in Co Down towards the end of the Irish…
Introduction The Spanish dollar or ‘piece of eight’ reales counter-struck ‘5 shillings & 5 pence’ for use in trading by the Castle Comer Colliery, in Co Kilkenny, is the only silver crown-sized piece issued in Ireland by a private commercial entity. They were produced on behalf of Anne, Duchess of Ormonde – the wife of…
By the first half of the 17th C, the copper coinage in both Britain and Ireland was in complete disarray. Neither James I nor his son, Charles I, took much interest in providing small denominations and ‘farmed out’ the Royal prerogative of minting copper coins to ‘favourite’ courtiers as patentees – Lords Harington, Richmond, Lennox and Maltravers were the principal…
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…
The Old Currency Exchange is a specialist dealer and valuer of Irish & GB coins, tokens and banknotes 