Coins of the Republic of Ireland
Encyclopedia
The Irish Free State
decided soon after its foundation in the 1920s to design its own coin
s and banknote
s. It was decided that the Irish currency would be pegged to the pound sterling
. The Coinage Act, 1926 was passed as a legislative basis for the minting of coins for the state and these new coins commenced circulation on 12 December 1928.
were produced in about 995 AD in Dublin for King Sitric, the Hiberno
-Norse
King of Dublin
. These penny coins bore the head and name of the king and the word Dyflin for Dublin. John of England
was among the first Anglo-Norman
monarch
s to mint coins in Ireland; these were farthings, halfpennies and pennies. It was not until the reign of Henry VIII
that Irish coins bore the harp
and, later in Henry's reign, the year. In the following centuries gold
, silver
and copper
coins were issued, and at one time, metal from melted-down gun barrels was used; this was called "gun money". Coins issued in the 18th and 19th centuries often included the word Hibernia
on the harp side. The last Irish coins issued prior to independence were during the reign of George IV
, in 1823. Irish coins were withdrawn in 1826 following the full political union of Ireland and Britain in the 1800 Act of Union
. Occasional "fantasy" coins were minted in the next century but these were neither circulated
nor legal tender
.
When the Irish Free State
introduced new coins and notes after independence, it was decided that these would remain pegged to the pound sterling. The decision was mainly for economic reasons because, in 1924, 98% of Irish exports went to Great Britain
and Northern Ireland
, while 80% of imports were from those territories. Additionally, the stability and backing of the pound sterling reassured the government that the new currency was on a firm foundation
and did not weaken efforts to rebuild the country socially and economically, which was the government's first commitment.
As is common with numismatic terminology
the side of the seal of the state is termed the "obverse"; this is often called the common side; the "reverse
" is the side with the denomination specific design.
Coins are issued by the central bank
which acts as an agent of the Minister for Finance
.
In the early 1920s, the Irish government
created a committee headed by Senator
W. B. Yeats to determine designs suitable for the coins. The committee members were Thomas Bodkin
, Dermot O'Brien, Lucius O'Callaghan and Barry Egan.
Some decisions were made at the outset. The harp
was to be on most if not all coins, and all lettering would be in Irish. The committee decided that people associated with "the present time" should not feature in any designs, no doubt due to the political divisions which had led to the Irish Civil War
. They decided later that religious or cultural themes should be avoided in case coins became relics or medals. Agriculture
was essential to the economy of Ireland and this theme was chosen for the coins, which used designs featuring animals and birds.
Finally, the harp and the words "Saorstát Éireann" were chosen for the obverse side of coins. Images of animals and birds were presented to the chosen artists to design the reverse and they were also given pictures of the Galway harp and Trinity College harp
for guidance. Later, the Minister for Finance
decided that the value of the coins should be written in numerals as well as in words, and he suggested using plants; this latter suggestion was rejected because the competition was at an advanced stage and due to the difficulty of obtaining good facsimiles of plants.
Three Irish artists Jerome Connor
, Albert Power and Oliver Sheppard
were chosen, and also the foreign artists Paul Manship
(American), Percy Metcalfe
(English) Carl Milles
(Swedish) and Publio Morbiducci (Italian); a number of other artists were invited but did not take part. Each artist was paid and allowed to produce designs in plaster
or metal
, with a prize for the winner. Identifying marks were removed from the designs so the committee did not know whose designs were being judged. Percy Metcalfe's designs were chosen and design modifications were added with assistance from civil servants
at the Department of Agriculture.
The first coins were struck in 1928 and were minted at the Royal Mint
in London
. In 1938, following the introduction of the Constitution of Ireland
, the obverse of the coins was modified with the Irish language
name of the State, "Éire
", and the harp was also modified so that it wore better. The Central Bank Act, 1942 Section 58 allowed pure nickel
to be substituted with a cupro-nickel alloy
. The description of the state as the "Republic of Ireland
" did not require any change in the name on coins issued after 1948. The Coinage Act, 1950 changed the law on coinage principally with the removal of silver from coins then in existence. The final piece of primary legislation for predecimal coins was the Coinage (Amendment) Act, 1966 which allowed for a ten shilling coin to be minted and circulated. The ten shilling was the only modern circulating Irish coin not to feature the harp, to incorporate edge lettering, and to depict an actual Irishman (Patrick Pearse
), and to depict a political subject (Pearse was an Irish revolutionary and the edge lettering referred to the 1916 Easter Rising
).
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Three new designs were created in bronze
for the new decimal currency by the artist Gabriel Hayes
, and were based upon manuscript
designs of ornamental birds in Celt
ic knotwork style. The designs of Percy Metcalfe were retained for the new five and ten pence coins, taken from the shilling and florin, respectively. The new fifty pence piece bore the image of the woodcock from the old farthing. The designs were quite simple using only figures and symbols to indicate the value; this yielded ambiguity about whether the "P" on the coins meant penny or pingin (the Irish
word for penny). Notwithstanding this the legislative basis for coins in the Republic has always used English words irrespective of final design mints.
The rising expense of minting coins necessitated the introduction of the twenty pence coin
in 1986; the halfpenny coin
was withdrawn at this time as inflation
had reduced its buying power. The introduction of the Irish pound
coin
required the Decimal Currency Act, 1990 and this law provided for certain other matters including the issue of European Currency Unit
(ECU) coins which were specifically stated not to be legal tender
in the legislation, instead intended as collectors
items. These ECU coins were issued in 50 ECU, 10 ECU and 5 ECU denominations, in gold
, silver
and silver respectively. These coins used the Irish red deer design from the Irish pound coin with a mountain relief in the background and other notable differences such as the 12 stars of the European Flag
surrounding the harp
, quite similar to the Irish euro coins
.
The coins issued under the Decimal Currency Acts were finally withdrawn from circulation in 2002 by the Irish Pound Coinage (Calling In) (No. 2) Order, 2001 which revoked an earlier similar order; the date was set for 10 February 2002. However, a number of pennies sometimes mistaken for five-cent coins incorrectly remain in circulation.
was overseen by the Euro Changeover Board of Ireland which was a special agency created on May 5, 1998 by the Minister for Finance; this agency provided a wide variety of information including converters, training packs, images and public advertisements on a wide range of media to ensure a successful transfer. As with all eurozone
countries, Ireland continued to mint her own coins after the currency changeover to the euro. One side of euro coins is common across the eurozone, it is the obverse which has a design unique to Ireland. Although some other countries used more than one design, or even a separate design for each of the eight coins (1c, 2c, 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, €1 and €2), Ireland used only one design. A redesigned harp (superficially identical to that used on earlier coins) was used, having been designed by Jarlath Hayes. Some other eurozone members have unique lettering around the €2 coin. The edge on Irish €2 coins merely has the sequence "", repeated three times.
The first collectors' commemorative coin issued since the changeover was a €10 silver coin to mark the Special Olympics in 2003. This was struck in sterling .925 silver and hand finished to create a distinctive gold logo and harp. A €5 Coin was also produced. Since then a number of commemorative coins have been issued including one for the accession of the ten new European Union
member states on 1 May 2004. One side of the €10 coin depicts a swan sitting on ten eggs, with the reverse depicting the harp and the names of all ten members in their native language. The first gold coin ever issued by the Central Bank was a €20 issued in 2006 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Beckett. These commemorative coins are only legal tender in Ireland, and are not valid elsewhere in the Eurozone.
In 2007, Ireland issued a €2 coin for general circulation commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Treaty of Rome
. This is, to date, the only circulating commemorative €2 coin issued by Ireland.
All pre-euro Irish coins may be exchanged for their equivalent in euros any weekday morning at the Central Bank in Dublin.
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...
decided soon after its foundation in the 1920s to design its own coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
s and banknote
Banknote
A banknote is a kind of negotiable instrument, a promissory note made by a bank payable to the bearer on demand, used as money, and in many jurisdictions is legal tender. In addition to coins, banknotes make up the cash or bearer forms of all modern fiat money...
s. It was decided that the Irish currency would be pegged to the pound sterling
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
. The Coinage Act, 1926 was passed as a legislative basis for the minting of coins for the state and these new coins commenced circulation on 12 December 1928.
Background
The first coins minted in IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
were produced in about 995 AD in Dublin for King Sitric, the Hiberno
Hibernia
Hibernia is the Classical Latin name for the island of Ireland. The name Hibernia was taken from Greek geographical accounts. During his exploration of northwest Europe , Pytheas of Massilia called the island Ierne . In his book Geographia Hibernia is the Classical Latin name for the island of...
-Norse
Norsemen
Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...
King of Dublin
Kings of Dublin
The Vikings invaded the territory around Dublin in the 9th century, establishing the Norse Kingdom of Dublin, the earliest and longest lasting Norse kingdom in all of Europe outside of Scandinavia, excepting the so-called Kingdom of Mann and the Isles. This corresponded to most of present-day...
. These penny coins bore the head and name of the king and the word Dyflin for Dublin. John of England
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
was among the first Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
monarch
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
s to mint coins in Ireland; these were farthings, halfpennies and pennies. It was not until the reign of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
that Irish coins bore the harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
and, later in Henry's reign, the year. In the following centuries gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
and copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
coins were issued, and at one time, metal from melted-down gun barrels was used; this was called "gun money". Coins issued in the 18th and 19th centuries often included the word Hibernia
Hibernia
Hibernia is the Classical Latin name for the island of Ireland. The name Hibernia was taken from Greek geographical accounts. During his exploration of northwest Europe , Pytheas of Massilia called the island Ierne . In his book Geographia Hibernia is the Classical Latin name for the island of...
on the harp side. The last Irish coins issued prior to independence were during the reign of George IV
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
, in 1823. Irish coins were withdrawn in 1826 following the full political union of Ireland and Britain in the 1800 Act of Union
Act of Union 1800
The Acts of Union 1800 describe two complementary Acts, namely:* the Union with Ireland Act 1800 , an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, and...
. Occasional "fantasy" coins were minted in the next century but these were neither circulated
Circulation (currency)
The social system in which we live has usually developed to the stage for money to be used as the medium for the exchange of goods and services. Hence the money is an important aspect of the general social or macroeconomics system...
nor legal tender
Legal tender
Legal tender is a medium of payment allowed by law or recognized by a legal system to be valid for meeting a financial obligation. Paper currency is a common form of legal tender in many countries....
.
When the Irish Free State
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...
introduced new coins and notes after independence, it was decided that these would remain pegged to the pound sterling. The decision was mainly for economic reasons because, in 1924, 98% of Irish exports went to Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, while 80% of imports were from those territories. Additionally, the stability and backing of the pound sterling reassured the government that the new currency was on a firm foundation
Store of value
A recognized form of exchange can be a form of money or currency, a commodity like gold, or financial capital. To act as a store of value, these forms must be able to be saved and retrieved at a later time, and be predictably useful when retrieved....
and did not weaken efforts to rebuild the country socially and economically, which was the government's first commitment.
As is common with numismatic terminology
Terminology
Terminology is the study of terms and their use. Terms are words and compound words that in specific contexts are given specific meanings, meanings that may deviate from the meaning the same words have in other contexts and in everyday language. The discipline Terminology studies among other...
the side of the seal of the state is termed the "obverse"; this is often called the common side; the "reverse
Obverse and reverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags , seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse...
" is the side with the denomination specific design.
Coins are issued by the central bank
Central bank
A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is a public institution that usually issues the currency, regulates the money supply, and controls the interest rates in a country. Central banks often also oversee the commercial banking system of their respective countries...
which acts as an agent of the Minister for Finance
Minister for Finance (Ireland)
The Minister for Finance is the title held by the Irish government minister responsible for all financial and monetary matters. The office-holder controls the Department of Finance and is considered one of the most important members of the Government of Ireland.The current Minister for Finance is...
.
Pre-decimal coins
Irish Government
The Government of Ireland is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland.-Members of the Government:Membership of the Government is regulated fundamentally by the Constitution of Ireland. The Government is headed by a prime minister called the Taoiseach...
created a committee headed by Senator
Seanad Éireann (Irish Free State)
Seanad Éireann was the upper house of the Oireachtas of the Irish Free State from 1922–1936. It has also been known simply as the Senate, or as the First Seanad. The Senate was established under the 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State but a number of constitutional amendments were...
W. B. Yeats to determine designs suitable for the coins. The committee members were Thomas Bodkin
Thomas Bodkin
Professor Thomas Patrick Bodkin was an Irish lawyer, art historian, art collector and curator.Bodkin was Director of the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin from 1927 to 1935 and founding Director of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham from 1935 until 1952, where he acquired the...
, Dermot O'Brien, Lucius O'Callaghan and Barry Egan.
Some decisions were made at the outset. The harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
was to be on most if not all coins, and all lettering would be in Irish. The committee decided that people associated with "the present time" should not feature in any designs, no doubt due to the political divisions which had led to the Irish Civil War
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....
. They decided later that religious or cultural themes should be avoided in case coins became relics or medals. Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
was essential to the economy of Ireland and this theme was chosen for the coins, which used designs featuring animals and birds.
Finally, the harp and the words "Saorstát Éireann" were chosen for the obverse side of coins. Images of animals and birds were presented to the chosen artists to design the reverse and they were also given pictures of the Galway harp and Trinity College harp
Trinity College Harp
The Trinity College harp is a medieval musical instrument currently displayed in the long room at Trinity College Dublin. It is an early Irish harp or wire strung cláirseach...
for guidance. Later, the Minister for Finance
Minister for Finance (Ireland)
The Minister for Finance is the title held by the Irish government minister responsible for all financial and monetary matters. The office-holder controls the Department of Finance and is considered one of the most important members of the Government of Ireland.The current Minister for Finance is...
decided that the value of the coins should be written in numerals as well as in words, and he suggested using plants; this latter suggestion was rejected because the competition was at an advanced stage and due to the difficulty of obtaining good facsimiles of plants.
Three Irish artists Jerome Connor
Jerome Connor
Jerome Connor was an Irish sculptor.-Life:...
, Albert Power and Oliver Sheppard
Oliver Sheppard
Oliver Sheppard RHA was an Irish sculptor, most famous for his 1911 bronze statue of the mythical Cuchullain dying in battle.-Family:...
were chosen, and also the foreign artists Paul Manship
Paul Manship
Paul Howard Manship was an American sculptor.-Life:Manship began his art studies at the St. Paul School of Art in Minnesota. From there he moved to Philadelphia and continued his education at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts...
(American), Percy Metcalfe
Percy Metcalfe
Percy Metcalfe, CVO, RDI , was an English artist sculptor and designer.He studied art in Leeds, and in 1914 attended the Royal College of Art London....
(English) Carl Milles
Carl Milles
Carl Milles was a Swedish sculptor, best known for his fountains. He was married to artist Olga Milles and brother to Ruth Milles and half brother to the architect Evert Milles...
(Swedish) and Publio Morbiducci (Italian); a number of other artists were invited but did not take part. Each artist was paid and allowed to produce designs in plaster
Plaster
Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...
or metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
, with a prize for the winner. Identifying marks were removed from the designs so the committee did not know whose designs were being judged. Percy Metcalfe's designs were chosen and design modifications were added with assistance from civil servants
Civil service of the Republic of Ireland
The Civil Service of Ireland is the collective term for the permanent staff of the Departments of State and certain State Agencies who advise and work for the Government of Ireland. It consists of two broad components, the Civil Service of the Government and the Civil Service of the State...
at the Department of Agriculture.
The first coins were struck in 1928 and were minted at the Royal Mint
Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but since 2009 it operates as Royal Mint Ltd, a company which has an exclusive contract with HM Treasury to supply all coinage for the UK...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. In 1938, following the introduction of the Constitution of Ireland
Constitution of Ireland
The Constitution of Ireland is the fundamental law of the Irish state. The constitution falls broadly within the liberal democratic tradition. It establishes an independent state based on a system of representative democracy and guarantees certain fundamental rights, along with a popularly elected...
, the obverse of the coins was modified with the Irish language
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
name of the State, "Éire
Éire
is the Irish name for the island of Ireland and the sovereign state of the same name.- Etymology :The modern Irish Éire evolved from the Old Irish word Ériu, which was the name of a Gaelic goddess. Ériu is generally believed to have been the matron goddess of Ireland, a goddess of sovereignty, or...
", and the harp was also modified so that it wore better. The Central Bank Act, 1942 Section 58 allowed pure nickel
Nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...
to be substituted with a cupro-nickel alloy
Alloy
An alloy is a mixture or metallic solid solution composed of two or more elements. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may or may not be homogeneous in distribution, depending on thermal history...
. The description of the state as the "Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
" did not require any change in the name on coins issued after 1948. The Coinage Act, 1950 changed the law on coinage principally with the removal of silver from coins then in existence. The final piece of primary legislation for predecimal coins was the Coinage (Amendment) Act, 1966 which allowed for a ten shilling coin to be minted and circulated. The ten shilling was the only modern circulating Irish coin not to feature the harp, to incorporate edge lettering, and to depict an actual Irishman (Patrick Pearse
Patrick Pearse
Patrick Henry Pearse was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist and political activist who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916...
), and to depict a political subject (Pearse was an Irish revolutionary and the edge lettering referred to the 1916 Easter Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
).
| Summary: Pre-decimal coins | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English name | Irish name | Numeral | Reverse | Introduction | Withdrawal | £1 Fraction |
| Farthing | Feoirling | ¼d | Woodcock Woodcock The woodcocks are a group of seven or eight very similar living species of wading birds in the genus Scolopax. Only two woodcocks are widespread, the others being localized island endemics. Most are found in the Northern Hemisphere but a few range into Wallacea... |
12 December 1928 | 1 January 1962 | 1/960 |
| Halfpenny | Leath Phingin | ½d | Sow Pig A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives... and litter Litter (animal) A litter is the offspring at one birth of animals from the same mother and usually from one set of parents. The word is most often used for the offspring of mammals, but can be used for any animal that gives birth to multiple young. In comparison, a group of eggs and the offspring that hatch from... |
12 December 1928 | 1 August 1969 | 1/480 |
| Penny | Pingin | 1d | Hen Chicken The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird... and chickens |
12 December 1928 | 1 January 1972 | 1/240 |
| Threepence | Leath Reul | 3d | Hare Hare Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets. Four species commonly known as types of hare are classified outside of Lepus: the hispid hare , and three species known as red rock hares .Hares are very fast-moving... |
12 December 1928 | 1 January 1972 | 1/80 |
| Sixpence | Reul | 6d | Wolfhound Irish Wolfhound The Irish wolfhound is a breed of domestic dog , specifically a sighthound. The name originates from its purpose rather than from its appearance... |
12 December 1928 | 1 January 1972 | 1/40 |
| Shilling | Scilling | 1s | Bull Bull Bull usually refers to an uncastrated adult male bovine.Bull may also refer to:-Entertainment:* Bull , an original show on the TNT Network* "Bull" , an episode of television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation... |
12 December 1928 | 1 January 1993 | 1/20 |
| Florin | Flóirín | 2s | Salmon Salmon Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true... |
12 December 1928 | 1 June 1994 | 1/10 |
| Half-Crown | Leath Choróin | 2s6d | Horse | 12 December 1928 | 1 January 1970 | 1/8 |
| Ten Shilling | Deich Scilling | 10s | Cú Chulainn Cú Chulainn Cú Chulainn or Cúchulainn , and sometimes known in English as Cuhullin , is an Irish mythological hero who appears in the stories of the Ulster Cycle, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore... |
12 April 1966 | 10 February 2002 | 1/2 |
Decimal coins
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
for the new decimal currency by the artist Gabriel Hayes
Gabriel Hayes
Gabriel Hayes was an Irish artist born in Monasterevin, County Kildare. She was a sculptor who studied in Dublin, France, and Italy. Hayes was also an accomplished artist with one of her works "The Cork Bowler" selling at Christies in London in May 2000 for 23,500 stg....
, and were based upon manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
designs of ornamental birds in Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic knotwork style. The designs of Percy Metcalfe were retained for the new five and ten pence coins, taken from the shilling and florin, respectively. The new fifty pence piece bore the image of the woodcock from the old farthing. The designs were quite simple using only figures and symbols to indicate the value; this yielded ambiguity about whether the "P" on the coins meant penny or pingin (the Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
word for penny). Notwithstanding this the legislative basis for coins in the Republic has always used English words irrespective of final design mints.
The rising expense of minting coins necessitated the introduction of the twenty pence coin
Irish twenty pence (decimal coin)
The twenty pence coin was a subdivision of the Irish pound. It was introduced on 30 October 1986. It was first Irish decimal coin that was of a different size to the corresponding British coin, as the Irish pound had not been pegged to the British pound since 1979...
in 1986; the halfpenny coin
Irish halfpenny (decimal coin)
The decimal halfpenny coin was the smallest denomination of the Irish pound. It was first issued when the Irish currency was decimalised on Decimal Day, 15 February 1971. It was one of three new designs introduced all in bronze and featuring ornamental birds on the reverse. The coin value was...
was withdrawn at this time as inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
had reduced its buying power. The introduction of the Irish pound
Irish pound
The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the usual notation was the prefix £...
coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
required the Decimal Currency Act, 1990 and this law provided for certain other matters including the issue of European Currency Unit
European Currency Unit
The European Currency Unit was a basket of the currencies of the European Community member states, used as the unit of account of the European Community before being replaced by the euro on 1 January 1999, at parity. The ECU itself replaced the European Unit of Account, also at parity, on 13...
(ECU) coins which were specifically stated not to be legal tender
Legal tender
Legal tender is a medium of payment allowed by law or recognized by a legal system to be valid for meeting a financial obligation. Paper currency is a common form of legal tender in many countries....
in the legislation, instead intended as collectors
Collecting
The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector. Some collectors are generalists, accumulating merchandise, or stamps from all countries of the world...
items. These ECU coins were issued in 50 ECU, 10 ECU and 5 ECU denominations, in gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
and silver respectively. These coins used the Irish red deer design from the Irish pound coin with a mountain relief in the background and other notable differences such as the 12 stars of the European Flag
European symbols
A number of symbols of Europe have emerged throughout history. Depending on the symbol, they can apply to Europe as a whole, European unity or merely to the European Union...
surrounding the harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
, quite similar to the Irish euro coins
Irish euro coins
Irish euro coins all share the same design by Jarlath Hayes, that of the harp, a traditional symbol for Ireland since the Middle Ages, based on that of the Brian Boru harp, housed in Trinity College, Dublin. The same harp is used as the official seals of the Taoiseach, and government ministers and...
.
The coins issued under the Decimal Currency Acts were finally withdrawn from circulation in 2002 by the Irish Pound Coinage (Calling In) (No. 2) Order, 2001 which revoked an earlier similar order; the date was set for 10 February 2002. However, a number of pennies sometimes mistaken for five-cent coins incorrectly remain in circulation.
| Summary: Decimal coins | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English name | Irish name | Numeral | Reverse | Introduction | Withdrawal | £1 Fraction |
| Halfpenny | Leathphingin | ½p | Ornamental bird Bird Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from... |
15 February 1971 | 1 January 1985 | 1/200 |
| Penny | Pingin | 1p | Ornamental bird | 15 February 1971 | 10 February 2002 | 1/100 |
| Two Pence | Dhá Phingin | 2p | Ornamental bird | 15 February 1971 | 10 February 2002 | 1/50 |
| Five Pence | Cúig Phingin | 5p | Bull Bull Bull usually refers to an uncastrated adult male bovine.Bull may also refer to:-Entertainment:* Bull , an original show on the TNT Network* "Bull" , an episode of television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation... |
8 September 1969 | 10 February 2002 | 1/20 |
| Ten Pence | Deich bPingin | 10p | Salmon Salmon Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true... |
8 September 1969 | 10 February 2002 | 1/10 |
| Twenty Pence | Fiche Pingin | 20p | Irish Hunter | 30 October 1986 | 10 February 2002 | 1/5 |
| Fifty Pence | Caoga Pingin | 50p | Woodcock Woodcock The woodcocks are a group of seven or eight very similar living species of wading birds in the genus Scolopax. Only two woodcocks are widespread, the others being localized island endemics. Most are found in the Northern Hemisphere but a few range into Wallacea... |
17 February 1970 | 10 February 2002 | 1/2 |
| One Pound | Punt | £1 | Red deer Red Deer The red deer is one of the largest deer species. Depending on taxonomy, the red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, parts of western Asia, and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being... |
20 June 1990 | 10 February 2002 | 1 |
The euro
The introduction of the euroEuro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
was overseen by the Euro Changeover Board of Ireland which was a special agency created on May 5, 1998 by the Minister for Finance; this agency provided a wide variety of information including converters, training packs, images and public advertisements on a wide range of media to ensure a successful transfer. As with all eurozone
Eurozone
The eurozone , officially called the euro area, is an economic and monetary union of seventeen European Union member states that have adopted the euro as their common currency and sole legal tender...
countries, Ireland continued to mint her own coins after the currency changeover to the euro. One side of euro coins is common across the eurozone, it is the obverse which has a design unique to Ireland. Although some other countries used more than one design, or even a separate design for each of the eight coins (1c, 2c, 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, €1 and €2), Ireland used only one design. A redesigned harp (superficially identical to that used on earlier coins) was used, having been designed by Jarlath Hayes. Some other eurozone members have unique lettering around the €2 coin. The edge on Irish €2 coins merely has the sequence "", repeated three times.
The first collectors' commemorative coin issued since the changeover was a €10 silver coin to mark the Special Olympics in 2003. This was struck in sterling .925 silver and hand finished to create a distinctive gold logo and harp. A €5 Coin was also produced. Since then a number of commemorative coins have been issued including one for the accession of the ten new European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
member states on 1 May 2004. One side of the €10 coin depicts a swan sitting on ten eggs, with the reverse depicting the harp and the names of all ten members in their native language. The first gold coin ever issued by the Central Bank was a €20 issued in 2006 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Beckett. These commemorative coins are only legal tender in Ireland, and are not valid elsewhere in the Eurozone.
In 2007, Ireland issued a €2 coin for general circulation commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Treaty of Rome
Treaty of Rome
The Treaty of Rome, officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, was an international agreement that led to the founding of the European Economic Community on 1 January 1958. It was signed on 25 March 1957 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany...
. This is, to date, the only circulating commemorative €2 coin issued by Ireland.
All pre-euro Irish coins may be exchanged for their equivalent in euros any weekday morning at the Central Bank in Dublin.